


Twenty Five Christmases

by e_frye



Series: Blue Muse [9]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Christmas, Family Drama, Gen, Holiday Season, Romantic Comedy, Twisted and Fluffy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-01
Updated: 2013-12-25
Packaged: 2018-01-03 04:39:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 28,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1065862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/e_frye/pseuds/e_frye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At twenty four years old Lee Williams the estranged daughter of River Song and the Doctor had nearly given up on ever stumbling on the fated blue box which followed her family. She had not waited nor searched but suddenly she had stumbled upon the moment her entire time running across earth’s history had been leading up to. The Doctor she had expected, the Christmases she had not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Christmas Adventure

Lee Williams rounded around the corner of the practice room maze at Oberlin College. Her mind was twittering away with the fingerings for yet another clarinet concerto as she shifted the large stack of sheet music underneath her left arm. As she walked past each door she paused for a moment, standing on her toes while peering in through the windows. She could catch for a brief moment, each time her own feathered strawberry blonde hair and mustard colored sweater caught her off guard before she could see a student already occupying the room.

 

She continued walking around the twisted hallways, her heeled boots echoing softly against the linoleum floor until she finally found an open room past the organ corridor. She fumbled with the door, her clarinet case supported by only her pinky and ring finger as she twisted the door knob open. Lee walked into the room, flicking the light switch with an elbow as she placed her things down on the lid of the piano, still not noticing the very large and very blue box which stood in the room.

 

            “Hello, I’m the Doctor.” Lee looked up not startled or surprised, tilting her head a bit and squinted at the man in front of her. He head was sticking out of the door of his box, his floppy hair still swaying. She bit her lip to avoid from smiling as her hearts suddenly seemed to beat excessively fast. “Most people would be a bit surprised by a police box in a conservatory practice room.” He added with a frown.

 

            Lee opened her mouth a bit and thinking before she spoke her first words to him “Did you really think you could ever surprise me?” She smirked.

 

            “I had to try.” He said stepping out of his box with a small hop. He walked over to the piano, his fingers tinkering on the keys before he withdrew them due to the dissonant sounds he made. He looked at them with disgust wondering how they could possibly betray him before he looked up at her with a toothy grin. His eyes shining new and old at the same time. She had seen his face so many times, heard the stories but she ever though that in the flesh the truly could look like a mad man in a box.

 

            “Yeah you did” She replied darkly as she looked him over. He hardly looked out of place at a college, the tweed jacket and bow tie were all very professorial, the floppy hair was not exactly fashion in 1970’s America.

 

            “You’re a long way from home.” He replied with curious tilt of his head.

 

            She narrowed her eyes, “So are you.” She shot back defensively

 

            “Ah yes but I come and go, like the women speaking of Michelangelo.” He replied with a turn   “You Riley do not belong here.” He added tapping her gently on the forehead.

 

            “Who says so?” She was getting cocky, but also shivering with anticipation. She had wandered and searched for so long, and now it really did seem as if she was watching an inexplicable magic show before her eyes. She knew how all the tricks were done and yet it was just so mesmerizing.

 

            “I do.” He added with a smile, walking back to the opened doors of his blue box. “Are you coming?”

 

            Lee hid a smile. Those words sent a shiver down her spine. In a moment her life had changed, in a moment she had gone from running and causing troubles on her own to running with the Doctor. And yet while so many of her wishes were coming true she still wanted to push every single one of his buttons, just to see if she could.

 

“Why?” She whispered teasingly, testing his patience.

 

            “Because it’s Christmas somewhere out there and I need your help.” Lee giggled and ran into the TARDIS, shutting the doors behind her. _Bigger on the inside_ , she thought to herself as she left the dimensions of earth. The interior exactly the same as the one she remembered from twenty four years ago. The brightly golden walls, the gleaming glass floor, the console which appeared to be pieced together with any and everything. The Doctor was already at the controls humming away at a tune.

 

“What piece is that?” Lee asked jumping up the set of stairs to watch him pull levers and buttons.

 

            “You’re not even going to comment on the bigger on the inside bit, I love that bit.” The Doctor remarked as she stood with her hands resting on her hips.

 

            “What piece is that melody from?” She demanded. He still hadn’t said anything to let her know that this was the right Doctor. The Doctor who knew who she was. The sinking feeling of disappointment was growing in her with each second that he did not address her as his own daughter.

 

            “I don’t know.” The Doctor remarked with a sly smile which Lee did not see. “Do you recognize it?”

 

            “It’s familiar. Maybe, I think I have forgotten it.” That was a lie; her first lie to the Doctor. Lee leaned forward and placed her hand on the console, withdrawing it quickly as sparks erupted from underneath her hand. “I don’t think your time machine likes me very much.” She added shaking her hand in pain.

 

            “She is the TARDIS, and she loves you.” He said taking hold of a large lever. He smiled at her as if he was suddenly happy for the first time in a long time “Now Christmas.” And with a hearty yank of a lever the TARDIS began to wheeze as they took off to some new world.

~~~

Lee walked about the corridors like it was all a dream. After all these years, he had finally come for her. She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes, he had to know. One scan of her DNA and he could have figured out everything about her. But didn’t he want to know where she had grown up, who exactly she was, it was just a matter of time before he asked her any questions about her childhood, she was sure of it. The TARDIS was the same as the one she remembered, the one she had been in so many years ago. She felt as if she was suddenly in a great cathedral of knowledge, a place somewhere large enough to hold all the complexities of her brain. She ran her hands across the walls and found she could communicate telepathically with the ship. Their minds connecting into a vivid dance of colors and ideas communicating knowledge far beyond the spoken language. In five minutes she had discovered more about the TARDIS that she doubted he ever had in a thousand years.

 

She only had a few moments to walk about and look at things, but in that time she managed to find the library as well as an old storeroom of parts. She rummaged through the storeroom, grabbing the correct circuitry that she needed in order to upgrade her vortex manipulator for interstellar travel.

 

“Oh honestly,” The Doctor said popping his head in and looking at her with a frown. “There are worlds to see and hear you are tinkering with old circuit boards.”

 

Lee turned about and quickly hid her things behind her back, giving him a small smile, which seemed to cast a brief dark shadow over his face. “You said it was going to be Christmas, I wanted to get ready.”

 

He looked at her with a great smile as he put a heavy arm around her dragging her out of the storeroom and back towards the main console room. “You’ve been hopping around in history for a long time, why?” He asked her in a deep voice, as if he was imply thing she had done something wrong. As they reached the console room he removed his arm and walked towards the center controls of his beloved ship, stroking it affectionately as Lee jumped up and perched herself on the railings.

 

“I got bored.” She replied truthfully, her American accent hitting his ears sharply. “And I was clever enough to find a way to travel in a more exciting way.”

 

“Bit dangerous.” He said not looking at her but rather typing coordinates into the ship.

 

“What’s life without a bit of danger?” Lee added, and she continued to stare at the back of his head, as if this would cause him to make some veiled comment about one or two of his previous companions. Yet he remained silent. She wasn’t going to make the first move, but she felt that he wasn’t going to either, not unless they found themselves in some sort of catastrophe.

 

“Brilliant with a wild side, oh the trouble you could get into.” The Doctor said as he threw the levers and they landed with a jerk and screech. The Doctor tossed about a bit jostled, while Lee remained statuesque on her perch with a pencil thin smile. “Well then, Christmas, Riley.” He said as he made his way to the door, his finger on the handle as she slowly glided over to his side.

 

“I prefer to be called Lee.” Hearing him use her real name without addressing the situation seemed to make everything hurt more. She fear in the pit of her stomach grew deeper.

 

He did not respond, instead he opened the door to a brand new world. She wondered for a moment if she should make a cheeky comment about environment checks, or not going about so recklessly into the unknown. But he was over a thousand years old Lee knew any sort of those comments was useless on the Doctor. Instead she looked out at the new planet trying to hide her smugness. It was a beach world, with sand and blue waves and palm trees blowing in the wind. She expected it to look a little more impressive than a postcard from Florida. It was most definitely Christmas, as the lights wrapped around the palm trees, and the ornaments handing from them could tell her. But it certainly was no white Christmas.

 

“Looks like earth” Lee sighed, unimpressed as she stuck her head back inside the TARDIS.

 

“Earth.”  The Doctor called out incuriously. Stepping outside of the ship, forcing her to follow “This happens to be Gamma Veranda, eight planet in the Zao System of the Corinthian Galaxy in the year 2351b, home of the Moo people. This is nothing like earth.”

 

Lee looked around, trying to hide a smile as she examined the world on further inspection. “Oh come on,” She began in a mocking tone “The palm trees, the perfectly cresting waves, the grass huts, it’s all a bit Malibu. But they do have a blue sun, I’ll give them that.”

 

She smiled and punched the Doctor in the arm before linking arms with him and walking down the beach together towards the seaside town. “I’m going to have to try very hard to impress you, aren’t I?” He said with a squint and a head shake.

 

“You bet Doc.” The pair smiled at each other for a moment. There were many things they were not saying to one another, many emotions that they were not expressing. So they walked down the sunny beach arm in arm, enjoying each other’s company for the first time in quite a while. In that moment they both silently decided that they would come to the moment of confronting their relationship only when they were both forced to.

 

Lee began humming the chorus to _Christmas in California,_ a popular scything Christmas tune from her future back on earth, which dealt with the holiday season in such an unseasonably warm location. Soon the Doctor joined in, and within a few bars they were both singingly loudly as they approached the town: “Oh it’s Christmas in California and there’s not much to do. It’s a balmy sixty-five degrees the city’s all wrapped up inside. There’s no snow in sight, there’s no ice rink in the park, but we got all the surf and sand you could ever want.”

 

They walked into the city, arm and arm laughing, stopping in the middle of the street. The town was painted in cheery pastels yet each little shop front seemed dimmed and darkened. There was no indication of the upcoming holidays, Lee assumed it may be due to cultural differences, but she looked about and saw what in her mind appeared to be a town in mourning. Those walking by were humanoid, though they all bore diamond shaped marking on their foreheads, and all seemed to have rather Technicolor hair like some species of the week on Star Trek. But the green and blue hair was detracted by the somber clothes they all were again wearing.

 

“Funny way to celebrate Christmas.” Lee said as she spun about the city square.

 

“We’ll they’re not are they?” The Doctor replied and Lee turned to look at him with a funny expression. “I told you I needed your help to save Christmas.” He added.

 

Lee gave a sigh and looked about the bright and dark town with the people all passing them by. She had never tried before to save anything or anyone. She was more of a meddler, or an accidental influence. But that was not what the Doctor did; he was more a sweep in and save the day type of a person. He was looking at her anxiously waiting for her to agree to come and save a city with him, but Lee was no sure that was what she wanted. A hero was someone who children would look up to, Lee was just a little girl who ran away and explored out of spite.

 

            “Why do you need my help?” Lee asked him and he gave a small shiver.

 

“Because they’re something’s I cannot do without assistance.” It was clear that he felt she should have no say in the matter that she was coming and that was all. Lee gave a small huff and considered her options. She did not know where she was, or how to get home in any sense; he had trapped her into staying. She gave him an indignant look, like a sullen child and they followed after him as he made his way to an orange cream building.

 

Seagulls were crying out in the distance as they stepped into the building. A far off call reminding them of life somewhere beyond the gloom of the town. Inside was a small collection of people all sitting in a large circle, men and women twenty in all. They looked up at the Doctor and Lee came in, and their faces broke into grim smiles.

 

“Hope I’m not too late.” The Doctor called out throwing his hands up in a gesture of welcoming. An elder man with deep plum hair coiffured in short locks look up at him and gave a small nod, he was clearly the elder of some sort. The Doctor sat down and Lee followed next to him, looking about the room at the robed people she realized she was still dressed in plaid bell bottoms from the 1970’s.

 

“I would like you all to meet, Lee…”

 

“Donavan.” She cut him off using a fake name without any hesitation as she tugged uncomfortably at the hem of her sweater.

 

“Lee Donavan, a friend of mine.” The Doctor paused, next to him Lee made a small sniffle of disproval at his choice of words. “I have asked her to come and help me. Lee these at the Moo people of the Suptal Village.

 

Lee’s eyes widened a bit at the absurdity of it all “Very nice to meet you, what can we do to help?”

 

The purple haired chief shifted upon his cushion and spoke with a surprisingly high and delicate voice. “My daughter Noel is coming upon her eighteenth day of born, a large celebration for our people. But two nights ago she was captured by a rival village, the Salmavian, I have called upon the Doctor to help bring her back.”

 

She suddenly felt very dizzy and hollow; she pursed her lips together fearing whatever words that slipped out of her mouth at the moment would not be very helpful. She rocked back and forth trying to rationalize the sudden rush of anger which had come over her. All her life she was sure the Doctor would fall out of the sky and whisk her away that was how the stories always went. But year after year, perilous moment after the next he never came. Three years ago, when she had ran away for good she was sure he would soon find her, but he never did. She ran away out of anger and hatred, and vainly in the hopes of running into him one day. Now she sat in a foreign planet that the Doctor had called her to, just so she could help him save someone else’s friend and daughter.

 

Lee stood up; she would just run away again. Maybe the Doctor really was just too much of a story and less of a man. She looked about the room and left wordlessly running out the door and down the street. She ran straight to the TARDIS pulling at the handle but the door wouldn’t budge. She pounded on the doors yelling at the machine to let her inside, but it did not open for her. Lee gave it a swift kick and upon feeling the pain radiating into her feet staggered down to the sandy beach. She looked down at her wrist, but she had left the vortex manipulator inside the ship.

 

Thoughts were racing through her head, making her want to scream. She had waited. She had done her part, been as good of a girl as she could, but what had been the point. After twenty four years the Doctor finally came back into her life, and he gave her not a single glance of significance. _He’s my father, the man who created me, the reason I’m so peculiar in the first place, and yet he couldn’t bring himself to mention the fact. No he just drags me off to an alien planet to help save someone else’s child. But where was he when I need help._

Lee sat alongside the sandy beach until she could no longer cry. She looked out over the waves which were silently crashing into the shore. The sea had always been salty on earth but here the aroma that filled her senses was sweet like a flower. It reminded her with a sharp pain that she had no way of getting back to earth.

 

She didn't know what to expect from him, or how she should react to his avoidance of her for that matter. Surely he remembered her, maybe he had some grand reason for completely forgetting to mention to her just exactly who he was. Yet she didn’t know how to act either. If it had been some other version of him, a younger version those Doctors she could forgive for not running to hug her, for not being proud of her. But this man, what excuse could he possibly have? Lee reminded herself that she had a father and a mother, Amy and Rory who had raised her and loved her. Could the Doctor ever really be more than just the man who contributed part of her genetic makeup?

 

She was stirred by something moving alongside her, and she saw him standing by her side looking out at the same strange sea. His face was nearly expressionless, yet it was tinted with sadness.

 

"You're not the first you know."  He remarked, his voice like a horn call in the distance.

 

If she had been younger and considerably less sensible, Lee would have inferred it to mean something very different. "I know." Lee whispered

 

His silence was so long she wondered if he had really heard what she had spoken, yet Lee was hesitant to repeat herself. "Riley I have lived a very long life. And I have lost… so many people I care about. I knew you would be safer with-“

 

"I don’t blame you for that." Lee said cutting him off turning her head to look up at him, her brow furrowed. "I just want to know… do you forget?"

 

Confusion flashed across his face for a small moment.  "Never completely."

 

Lee closed her stinging eyes and turned back to the sweet sea. "It must be some strange side effect, because I've never forgotten a single day of my life. I remember each one with complete clarity. I know everything these is to know, and I know who you are."

 

The Doctor was silent as he took the great effort to sit down next to her, his body almost touching hers. He had hoped she would forget the early trauma of the first few weeks of her life. But he looked at her now and understood her anger. She remembered every single dark day. He had the mercy of forgetting the pain and the past while she remembered being ripped from Rivers arms.

 

"I understand that you wanted to protect me." Lee whispered, her fingers playing with the ring on her left thumb. "And I appreciate that, as well as the childhood. The question is how do you want to proceed?"

 

He turned to look at her, smiling at her level headiness. "You're free to travel with me, whenever you want, whenever you need me, I'll be there for you."

 

"Even if I want some semblance of a normal life; or if I choose to be nobody, or a criminal or a scientist?"

 

"I will always be there, from now on out."

 

They looked at each other, and their eyes said to say all the words they were afraid to say. There was no anger or remorse, no bitterness or argument to be had.

 

"I'm not going to start calling you Dad." Lee mocked, as she leaned her head against him as they looked out over the water.

 

"I know." He replied, knowing that she would come up with her own way to view him, just as all Pond women did.

 

"So what now?"

 

"Well there still is Christmas to save." They ran back into the TARDIS, the Doctor flipping away at the controls as Lee ran off to get changed. She returned a few moments later wearing jean shorts and a button down shirt.

 

            “You know you don’t need to change in order to fit in.” The Doctor said as he looked at the monitor. They hadn’t gone anywhere yet but Lee knew he was researching the other village.

 

            “Clearly” She scoffed as she stood next to him and leaned over his shoulder to look at the monitor. “I just wanted to get rid of the pants, okay.”

 

            He chuckled as he typed on the type writer, “The town seems harmless enough.” He replied leaning away from the console so she could get a look herself.

 

            “But…” Lee encouraged, there was always a but.

 

            “But they kidnapped a young girl two days before Christmas; we don’t know what we’ll find.” He said warily.

 

            “Well then.” Lee reached around the console and pulled down on the lever.  The TARDIS took off with a lurch, and Lee laughed as she saw the wide eyed shock on the Doctors face. They landed abruptly and she hopped down the stairs to the door. His stunned expression made her smile even more. “One spark was all I ever needed.” Lee added wiggling her fingers at him. He rolled his eyes, caught between chiding her and asking her what else the TARDIS had already taught her. He looked in her glittering eyes and knew there was no doubt that she was his and River’s daughter. He just wished she didn’t have a gun hidden somewhere on her body.

 

            They stepped out of the TARDIS and into second similar pastel colored town, yet this one looked as if it was covered in Christmas colored vomit. Pine garlands where over every window, the smell of cinnamon and oranges hung in the air like a fog. Brightly colored lights flashed and twinkled from every rooftop and palm tree. The people of the town were all dressed in red and green, with thin scarves around their necks.

 

            “Looks like they got the memo.” Lee whispered as they walked towards the center of the town. She twirled a length of metallic garland around her neck and borrowed a Santa’s hat from a sand snowman, placing it on the Doctor. “Now we fit in.” The Doctor tugged the hat on his head making sure it was still there. He felt his heart surge as he looked at his daughter. They walked towards into the center of town, watching as the townspeople waved at them.

 

            “They seem to be very cheery kidnappers.” Lee commented as the stood in the town square, the Doctor nodded absentmindedly as he was sonicing the town. He ran off wordlessly towards an alleyway. Lee stood in the square of a moment, expecting him to call after her. But when he did not she ran off down the streets of the town after him.

 

            He was in her sight when she felt an arm grab around her she called out after the Doctor, but darkness soon fell all around her.

 

~~~

When Lee awoke her eyes felt fuzzy. Slowly the world seemed to come to her, dark curtains, hanging ropes, the smell of saw dust. She sat up suddenly as she became fully awake, she was in a theater. Lee stood up and looked around, there was people all about dressed for a Christmas pageant. She looked around wondering what possibly kind of planet this could me, and then she saw it in the corner. A purple haired girl dressed as an angel helping a few green haired children get on their costumes.

 

            “Noel.” Lee called out as she pushed her way through the backstage crowds to get closer to the girl.

 

            Noel looked up at her and smiled as if nothing was wrong at all. “Do you need a costume, I’m sure I can find one.” She didn’t seem to be harmed at all, she seemed happy. Noel had not been kidnapped from her village at all. Lee could see it in the way she moved, as if she was free for the first time in her life.

 

            Lee took her by the arm and pulled her into a corner of the theater. “Noel, why did you run away from home?” She was trying to be a non-threatening as possible. “Don’t worry I’ll make sure you won’t get in any trouble. I ran away from home as well.”

 

            Noel looked up at her scared, and Lee rested a hand on her comfortingly. “In two days, on my birthday, I was going to be married to a man who my father choose. They are so strict, I needed to get away.”

 

            “They called off Christmas because of you Noel, did you know that?”  She shook her head in refusal. “Did you ever tell your father that you didn’t want an arranged marriage?”

 

            “No, but no of my other sisters had him choose their husbands.”

 

            Lee paused, trying to put it all together in her brain. “Do like someone Noel?” She shy nodded. “And is he from this village and not your own?” Noel nodded again more strongly. Lee sighed and lifted the girls chin so they were looking at one another. “You’re going to do this Christmas pageant, and then we are going to talk to your father.”

 

            “But I don’t- want to.” Noel confessed.

 

            Lee shook her head. “He’s your family Noel, and no matter how much he hurts you intentionally or unintentionally, you need to try and communicate with him.” Lee wondered if what she was saying was half a lie. She had waited all her life for the Doctor to come into her life, and yet now she seemed to resent him. He was holding out from her, and it made her suspicious, maybe her life really was better without the Doctor. “No matter what.” She added in a whisper.

 

            “All right.” Noel said with a hesitant smile. “Do you want to be in the pageant, I mean can you sing or dance?”

 

            Lee laughed, “I can sing.” She replied. And so Noel dragged Lee off to get changed for the Christmas pageant, and neither of them noticed the tweed sleeve disappear into the wings.

 

The Doctor watched from the audience as a nervous Lee managed her way through the Christmas Pageant. But the words that he had overheard were ringing in his ears. He had stayed away from her, because he thought it was the best for her. He knew that whole civilizations would track her down and dissect her if they still knew she was alive. Lee needed to go down in history as human, and unassuming. Yet he knew that was a longshot. He smiled as Lee managed her way through unknown carols. He had checked and double checked when he brought her onboard the TARDIS hours earlier. He had seen Lee before, long before he ever knew River or Amy, he had known Lee. And that hurt him, more than she could ever understand. He knew who she would become.

 

If he had known, when she was born that his Riley would grow up to be, well who she was going to be, he would never have left her with Amy and Rory. He would have done everything in his power to protect her; he would never leave her out of his sight. She was free spirited like River, but he needed to find a way to make her stay with him.

 

When the pageant was over both Lee and Noel came to meet him in the audience. “Noel ran away from home, so she and I are going to have a talk with her father. So can I have the TARDIS keys?” She said placing her hand out. He almost made a joke about how it was a bit soon to be asking for the keys to the car, yet he changed his mind.

 

“You do realize that Noel’s village is only a mile and a half south.”

 

Lee laughed nervously. “I guess we’ll just walk then.”

 

“Do you want me to come with you?” The Doctor shouted after her.

 

“Nope.” Lee yelled back.

~~~

“Well?” The Doctor called out as Lee walked out of the Chief’s house smiling to herself.

 

“He agreed to let her marry the other guy in two days. Christmas has been saved.” Lee began as she walked towards The Doctor and the TARDIS in the square. “Did you really need my help?” She added with a whisper.

 

The Doctor laughed as he opened the doors of the TARDIS and they both stepped inside. “Well you gave Romeo and Juliet a happy ending, you did something.”

 

Lee looked him over, trying to work out what he was not saying, but it was no use. The Doctor lies, rule one. “I always wondered, did Romeo and Juliet always have an unhappy ending, or did you talk Shakespeare into that?”

 

“Don’t know.” The Doctor said flinging his jacket over the console. “Want to go see.”

 

Lee sighed and leaned against the railing. It stung a little bit, to be standing in the TARDIS, to hear the ship running through her head. This was where she truly belonged, but it did not feel like it. “You can just drop me off back in Ohio.” She mumbled.

 

The Doctor did not answer, he looked down at his ship and punched in some coordinated. He looked up at her with a devilish twinkle in his eyes. “That’s one.” He said, placing a hand on the takeoff lever.

 

“What do you mean?” Lee asked suspiciously.

                                                                                           

“I owe you,” He paused “You’re twenty four, so one for every Christmas I’ve ever missed and this years as well. You and me 25 Christmases.” Lee laughed, but he was not joking. He flipped the lever and they both flung backwards as the TARDIS uneasily took off.

 

“Where are we going?” Lee yelled over the wheezing of the time machine.

 

The Doctor took her hand, “Christmas.”


	2. One Time Only

“Have you ever actually been ice skating before?” Lee laughed as the Doctor yet again struggled to catch his footing on the ice and choose instead to cling onto her arm.

 

“Of course I have.” He tried to reply as bravely as he could, yet his voice came out in a high pitched squeak.

 

They had, in his defense, landed right next to an outdoor ice rink in Sweden in 2032. The Doctor had been reluctantly dragged by Lee onto the rink. She had glided underneath the multi colored string lights. He had spent more time wheezing in the smell of pine as small children skating in circles around him. Lee was smiling, her face flushed from the cold as she took hold of the Doctors hands. She swung out in front of him, skating backwards and she pulled him along.

 

“Okay now slowly, try to walk without picking up your feet.” He attempted to do so. He took a few steps, his feet gliding awkwardly on the ice as he propelled himself forward. His face brightened as his clumsy body caught on to the motion. He made his was around a quarter of the rink with Lee helping him. “I’m letting go.” She said.

 

The Doctor went another two feet forward before his foot caught Lee’s and they both fell crashing down on the ice. They broke out into laughter as the fellow skater whizzed by them rolling their eyes. Lee detangled herself from the Doctor and helped them both to stand up. She dragged the Doctor to the edge of the rink and helped him exit the ice.

 

“We are never going ice skating again.”  She said as they hobbled onto a bench and helped him remove his skates. He moaned loudly about he would soon be bruised. "Do you have any coordination at all?" Lee sighed as she bent down to untie her own skates.

 

"I did once." He stammered, watching as she let out a deep laugh. "Come on." He said taking her by the arm and pulling her up.

 

 

"We're leaving already?" Lee said walking through the snow in her socks with her shoes in her hands.

 

 

"We're going somewhere new, forgetting that this ever happened." He joked as he pushed her into the TARDIS. "I am never attempting to ice skate again."


	3. I Heart NNY

"Your do realize how incredibly hard it is going to be to impress me." Lee said as she pulled off her woolen cap and swung her wet coat over the railing.

 

 

He looked at her incredulously from behind the console "What do you mean?"

 

 

"I grew up in New York." She said flatly as she pulled off her wet socks and placed her shoes back on.  He looked at her un-swayed, she sighed and continued on "Christmas in New York City, the snow, the skating, the giant tree. I mean after a snowy grandmother’s house in the woods it’s the second most iconic Christmas location in American consumer history."

 

 

He scoffed and stood up straightening his bow tie and looking appalled. "You think that will all of space and time I can’t impress you with some place more Christmassy than New York City." He spat. He raised his brows and spun about flipping a lever on the console. The TARDIS jerked and he strutted to the door, throwing it open. He expected her to stand in the doorway in awe of the far flung corner of the universe he had taken her two. Lee stepped forward, looking beyond the door and bent over laughing.

 

 

"Where -do- you think- we- are?" She said in between breaths.

 

 

"The twelfth planet of Artridge?" He said and he turned his head to look out at the city they had landed. "Oh really dear?" He shouted to the TARDIS at large. He lowered his head and muttered in a hurt tone "It’s New New York."

 

 

"I can see that, from the wrongly placed Empire State Building." Lee replied. She looked at him sharply, her face suddenly serious. "Do they have a Macy's."

 

 

"Yes, why?"

 

 

"Because you’re getting your picture taken with Santa." Lee said grabbing him by the jacket and dragging him out of the TARDIS.  She looked around trying to gather her bearings. Noticing some familiar street signs but none of the common markings which she had come to know in her childhood of growing up in the city. It was as if suddenly her entire world had been turned upside down and reversed. She pushed through the crowds of people of all different species and races as she dragged him into the heart of the city.

 

 

“Lee, what on earth are you-“He stopped as she dragged him hard around a corner. “Can we ever be-“

 

 

Lee rolled her eyes, pulling him along ever farther as she noticed the familiar façade of the department store which had not been changed when apparently transplanted to the New Earth. If she had taken the time the Doctor would have explained to her that it was in fact the very same store which she had been to as a child. Many of the old landmarks of Earth had been transferred to the New City, though not all had survived the transfer. The Statue of Liberty had gone mysteriously missing.

 

 

Instead the Doctor did not get a word in edgewise as she shoved him into a long line of children, tapping her foot impatiently as she held him in place.

 

 

“Do this often?” He squeaked as he noticed a familiar fiery determination in her eyes.

 

 

She raised a brow, “The minor hostage situation or the waiting in line for a department store Santa?”

 

 

“Either.” He said as she pushed him forward in the queue and into Santa’s lap. The photo was gone in a moment, Lee taking it into her hands as she dragged him back towards the TARDIS, moving just as quickly as they had come through the streets of New New York. “Don’t you want to-“ He began to ask her. But Lee kept her head down pushing him though the crowds and back into the blue box.

 

 

Lee looked the picture in her hands as they walked through the door. Smiling as she tacked it on the wall by the front door. They were each sitting on one leg of the realistic Santa's lap. Lee with a gather goofy smile on her face, the Doctor with a forced one. She walked back up to the console looking back at him and chirping, "I'm still waiting to be impressed."

 

 

He snorted at her "Well then, let’s go meet Santa."


	4. The Real Santa Claus

Lee looked at him with disbelief as the TARDIS slammed to a halt having landed somewhere in the universe.  "Tell me you’re kidding." Lee muttered at him as he straightened his bowtie and smiled manically at her.

 

  
"I never joke about Christmas." He deadpanned as he ran to the door and thrust it open.

 

 

She walked out into a small and not very wintery forest. If this was supposed to be the mythical North Pole it was sure missing some snow and generally airiness of the season. Yet she did not comment as they walked towards an impressively carved wood cabin.  She wondered where they were but she did not comment as they stood on the stoop. The Doctor raised his hand and knocked and gave her a sly glance as they waited.

 

 

The door opened and all she could see were two large arms moving around the tweed figure. "Doctor."

 

 

"Geoff." He cried out as he stepped back to get a breath of air. "Mind if we come in?" Lee felt herself being ushered in to the cabin. She looked up at the large man who it belonged to. He was elderly and had a white bearded, but he didn’t seem quite exactly like Santa. At his house, while cozy in a flannel cottage theme was not filled with elves making toys year round.

 

 

"Lee." The Doctor said, placing his arms out as if it was show and tell "This is Santa Clause, or as he prefers to be known as these days Geoff."  Lee smiled politely and turned to look at the Doctor with raised brows. She of course, thought he was joking. "Oh come on." He added his shoulders sagging.

 

 

Lee nodded politely to the man whose home they had entered and turned back to hush the Doctor. "Christmas presents don’t just appear overnight. Besides, every single child realizes eventually that their parents are Santa."

 

 

"How old were you?" The Doctor asked with a twinge of sadness. He had missed out on all those Christmases when Lee bounded down the stairs at seven in the morning in hopes of finding a new bike or doll under a tree. And he had an inkling of a feeling that Lee had been the child to wake up at the crack of dawn with high expectations of what Santa would bring her.

 

 

"Seven" Lee muttered softly. Not wanting to elaborate how fifth grader Andy Edellsburg had spent a the whole month of November telling her every single day how there was no Santa Claus, until she broke down in tears and had to be calmed down by her second grade teacher.

 

 

"I moved out of the gift giving business quite a while ago." Geoff said, and Lee turned to look back at the man who was looking at her politely. It was in the face somehow; he seemed more like condescending headmaster than something out of a Rockwell painting. "She's right; it got too risky about the turn of the 20th century people started to notice. So I found a new way to spread Christmas joy."

 

 

"How" Lee inquired still housing her own disbeliefs.

 

 

He walked over to a book shelf filled with similarly bound books which looked rather like a set of encyclopedias. "Name, city and most current Christmas."

 

 

Lee shifted a glance at the Doctor who indicated her to provide the information. "Lily Williams, NYC, 1973."

 

 

Geoff pondered at the shelf for a moment before removing a volume and pouring through it. "Two days before Christmas you found the last-"

 

 

"-pair of silver cufflinks at May Company." Lee finished, they had been the exact ones her bother had wanted too. She turned around, looking at the Doctor with wide eyes "Oh my God Santa's real." She whispered in awe.

 

 

Geoff smiled at Lee's excitement. "I turned my attention to adults rather than children. Funny how those who believe in me the least benefit the most, but it seems to make the holidays brighter."

 

 

Lee stood with her mouth opened in excitement, so many questions racing through her head. "Every Christmas?" She asked him, wondering if there really was a naughty and nice list.

 

 

He laughed a great big belly laugh which only made her smile even more. “No, every few years though.” He added with a twinkle in his eye.

 

 

And suddenly felling a flush of happiness the Doctor took her by the hand. Lee gave Santa a small wave as they exited his cottage. She walked back to the TARDIS the bliss of childhood happiness filling her once again as they took off for yet another time and place.


	5. Chapter 5 In Space

Christmas on a spaceship. Lee had never been on a real spaceship before. It was cramped, every wall seemed to serve a dual purpose yet even in the stark minimalistic surroundings there were still glimmers of Christmas spirit.  She smiled as she saw the corridors decorated with paper snowflakes and the small colored lights hanging above doorways. And faintly in the distance the Nutcracker Suite could be heard.

 

 

"When are we?" Lee asked as she turned back to look at the Doctor. He flicked out his sonic screwdriver and squinted at it looking at the readings.

 

 

"2308" He muttered back to her as they continued down a corridor and turned in a more populated quadrant.

 

 

"So is this the exodus from Earth, after the sun went out?" Lee whispered in his ears as the pushed passed a small group of adults. So she had heard that story at least.

 

 

"No" He shook his head "Far too early for that, this is a pioneer ship moving out west. Well metaphorically west, to the newly terra-formed earth colonies." He turned and smiled at her. They moved forward in the crowd, people were all forming up into groups.

 

 

"What's happening?"

 

 

"Don’t know." He said with curiosity. They both smiled at one another as he took her hand and they pushed forward. Up in front was a man dressed in somewhat bleak clothes addressing the crowd in front of him.  The people all seemed to have cheer on their faces as they looked around excitedly.

 

 

"So the green group will take decks 13 through 16." He called out in a deep voice and people moved accordingly towards exits.

 

 

Lee turned to look at the Doctor, not understanding any more than he was what was happening. He turned towards a man and asked him politely "Do you mind if we join your group?" The man nodded in reply and he turned back to smile snuggly at Lee.

 

 

"Could something bad happen?" She warned as there new group was apparently called out and they all began to move. He looked at her to indicate that something bad was always about to happen.

 

 

As it turns out, the groups were for carolers, and while Lee's voice was well appreciated the carolers of the 24th century, had no time to deal with the Doctors off key shenanigans. So they found themselves sitting in a narrow corridor after getting kicked out of caroling.

 

 

"You have quite a good voice." The Doctor whispered as he fiddled with his sonic screwdriver.

 

 

"Well I did go to Julliard." Lee sighed arrogantly

 

 

"Really?"

 

 

"No but I took a few classes while I was at Columbia."

 

 

He looked at her with surprised. "You went to University/"

 

 

"What else did you think I was going to do?" Lee chuckled.

 

 

He looked flustered for a moment. For him only a few years had passed since she could fit in the palm of his hand. But for her, she was twenty some years old and she had lived all those years, never skipping a day on earth. "Did you have a job, back on earth?"

 

 

"I was a secretary in New York."

 

 

"Oh." He sighed, he figured that she didn’t have too many options during that era, but he thought that maybe she would have done something more exciting.

 

Lee laughed at his disheartened face; he was so easy to figure out. "I was a secretary for the FBI in New York."

 

 

He lit up, "Not a field agent."

 

 

Lee tilted her head and said with glittering eyes which told him the truth. "There were no female field agents at that time." She winked not so subtly at her.

 

 

He did some quick math in his head; they started allowing females in the field in 72, so she was… "So your 25 years old then."  
 

 

She laughed some more. "I was twenty two when I left home, I’m twenty four now."

 

 

He looked down, he had missed so much. He thought it would be easy, dropping her off and then coming back when she was older. But it wasn’t, there were too many things he didn’t know. What was her favorite color, had she ever been in love, what terrified her?  He felt a hand wrap around him and saw Lee looking down at him. She was an adult, but he longed to see a little child standing in front of him.

 

 

"Come on." She whispered, "I think we have ruined this Christmas enough."


	6. Chapter 6: Too Many Grievances Aired

It hurt to look at her. At her smiling face as they stood on the corner of a snowy street in some far flung world. She was all grown up now, her hair falling down her back in small ringlet spirals her eyes glistening in the street light. Just the other day she fit into the palm of his hand, just the other day he was clutching her to his chest and comforting her, and now she was all grown up. It wasn’t just some metaphorical longing of the time gone by, it was literal. His daughter had grown twenty four years in just a few days.  He wanted to run away, leave her all alone and go back. Go back to that doorstep in Manhattan and take her back for himself. He could have raised her and kept her safe. He could have and he longed to. But he couldn’t change the past like that, not to her. Besides it was a lie. He was barely able to keep her safe for a day, how could she have ever managed twenty four years.

 

 

There were scars all along her body; he had seen them over the past week, gradually. A diagonal line along her right bicep, a rounds pot mark on the back of her left hand, a V shaped one just above her knee. He wanted to know where they all came from, be he was too afraid to ask. He felt as if he didn’t have a right to be standing alongside her, even though he very much did. But the way she looked at him. It was clear what she thought of him. She had heard stories of him. He could tell that from the look on her face and the subtle remarks she casually made. But he wondered how many of the tales she really knew. If she knew of the dark days and all of the mistakes he had made. If it wasn’t for him she would have had a very different life.

 

 

She called him Doctor. It stung a bit, but it seemed to be a rightful penitence. He called her Lee. It wasn’t her real name, not all of it, but it fit her. He was beginning to look past what he had originally seen in her; the ghosts of the people who made her; and see what was underneath. She was kind, but strong willed, unabashedly brave and yet timid. She was the culmination of those who came before her, and she was painfully aware of it. She was trying to push past them all and discover who she was. That was why she had run away from home.  That was why she had never actively searched for him herself.

 

 

“Hey are you just going to stand there?” Lee asked punching him in the arm lightly. He turned to look at her, his face flooded with all the guilt of what he had done to four generations of one family. “Hey.” She whispered taking him by the arm and pulling him towards a storefront.  They had been slipping bank notes into peoples coat pockets, it had been her idea in the first place.

 

 

“Lee I---I ruined your life.” He stuttered. 

 

 

Exasperation covered her face. “No you didn't” She began

 

 

“You ran away.”

 

 

“Because I didn't want to be an adult.” Lee laughed. “My childhood was great. Mom, Dad, brother and a dog. Living in a huge city. It was dull at times, but amazing. I ran away because of gender roles and because I was getting bored with the lack of technology. But you—” She paused choking on her words “It could have been worse. You gave me a fighting chance.”

 

 

She looked at him knowing that nothing she could say here was going to fix the thoughts that were running through his head. "Come on." She whispered as she placed a small wad of cash into a woman's pocket and took his gloved hand in hers. "Let’s go somewhere where there are less people."


	7. Chapter 7: A Midnight Clear

There was a loud pop as the firework was sent up high in the sky. Seconds later golden glittering lights fell down over the frozen lakebed as gently as snowflakes. It was all they had in the far out reaches of the ninth moon of Endarin, fireworks against the starry sky. Lee took the Doctors hand in her own as they stood along the frozen  lake shore with a few dozen others, watching the lights glitter across the sky.

 

 

"Are you happy with your life Lee?" He whispered into her ear as she leaned her head against his shoulder.

 

 

"As happy as anyone can be, I think." She whispered gently. He could hear her breathing softly, the cold air stinging her lungs as her hearts pumped blood to keep her warm. "It's not perfect. But then that's life isn't it?"

 

 

"Yes. Yes it is." He replied breathlessly. He looked down at his feet lifting up a foot and digging a small hole in the thick snow.

 

 

“Are you happy?” She asked him, her voice floating away gently in the light wind. She sniffed a bit, her nose running from the cold as she looked at his broken face.

 

 

His jaw twitched as he looked up at the fireworks bursting across the sky. “I’m as happy as a lonely old man can be.” He whispered the stark truth to her while digging deeper into the snow with his feet.

 

 

Lee laughed next to him, “You’re old Doctor, but you’re not lonely.” She murmured as she pulled him closer to herself as another firework shot up into the sky. It burst loudly causing them both to flinch, yet the silver light sparkled out against the blackness. Even when it had faded away the ashy imprint of the explosion still remained above.

 

 

They had only known one another for seven days and yet they seemed to understand so much about the other. Words didn’t always needed to be exchanged; just being in the same place was good enough. Both of them had already had families, adventures, had loved and lost. They knew sorrow and deep searing pain. But as the lights brightened the coldest, darkest days of winters they both seemed to suddenly find hope. 


	8. Chapter 8: Common Traditions

"Are you starting to run out of ideas?" Lee said as they came into the console room once more. She shut the door behind them and bounded up the stairs. She stood at the top looking down at the Doctor who placed his hands in his jacket pockets and looked rather bemused.

 

 

"What makes you think that?" The Doctor replied, he was watching her with pleasure. She was an unusual combination of the people who had all contributed to her lives. He could see Amy and Rory in her; River too and surprisingly even shades of his previous incarnations. But what surprised him the most was how she seemed to hold her own. She was such a culmination of different personalities that she was something altogether new.

 

 

"We've done seven Christmases in a row, there can only be so many variations of the traditions." She stared with a roll of her eyes.  
 

 

"True," He nodded as he slowly walked towards her. "But the experiences are always different.”

 

 

She smiled wickedly, "That sounds like an excuse to me.  Are you getting tiered?"

 

 

"Me." He chortled "I need far less sleep that the average human. You?" He added with curiosity.

 

 

"Same" She replied "Did me wonders in college."  She paused "So where to next? Planet of the Christmas trees, inadvertently write the Nutcracker Suite, The Chipmunk Song? I've heard the stories."

 He wondered how many stories she really had heard growing up. Was her really in her mind as some mythical figure, or was he more the broken raggedy Doctor who had failed little Amelia so many times.

 

 

"Why do you think the adventures have to be so grand?" He frowned. Because those were the stories she had been told, that there were no dull days with the Doctor.

 

 

"Because we can’t just crash someone's Christmas Eve and have a quiet night." She said immediately regretting her words as a glitter formed in the Doctors eye. She scowled at him in an expression River had worn before, “No don’t you dare…” She growled

 

 

"Might want to grab a coat." The Doctor said as he turned to his controls. Lee sighed heavily and set down off the corridors of the TARDIS, coming back moments later wearing a down winter coat trimmed with fur.  He took one look at her and laughed, but then she threw him a long purple wool coat of his own. She shrugged her shoulders in arrogance as she strode to the console and began flicking at levers with him. He was tempted to say something to her, but she did happen to be flipping all the right switches.

 

 

 

As they landed he put on the knee length coat and followed her outside onto the snow filled street. She shivered under her coat and he led the way down the snow covered lane. They were in some eastern European city, the buildings bleak and utilitarian as the feeling of joy under pressure hung in the air. Windows glittered with candles as people sat down behind their frosted windows for Christmas dinner.

 

 

"Are we in Russia?" Lee asked, she had of course been to Russia in her FBI years, but this somehow looked different. Maybe it was a different era.

 

 

"Warsaw, 1995." The Doctor added as he picked a door with a small pine wreath and set a course. Lee wondered what he was doing, but she did not ask any questions as he stood on the stoop and nocked.

 

 

An elderly woman opened the door she babbled something in Polish and both Lee and the Doctor found themselves being ushered into a small house. Their coats were removed and placed by the doors as they were ushered to a dining table filled with a small extended family.

 

 

An empty place was already set, and the Doctor allowed Lee to take its place as someone rushed to grab him a chair. The family began talking animatedly asking where they were from. The Doctor was spinning about a wild tale of the journey they had made from Krakow and how their car had broken down. Lee looked about there was straw strewn about the table, along with 12 traditional dishes such as Borsht, Perogi and cabbage rolls. Two children were sitting across from her, both about five and she started making funny faced at them in order to entertain them.

 

 

It was warm and cozy, a great deal of people stuffed into a small space with an abundance of food and laughter, and it was what the holidays were all about. It was nothing like what Christmas had been growing up, and yet it still seemed like a perfect way to celebrate the holiday.

 

 

The Doctor leaned over to her and whispered into her ear halfway through dinner. "Wigilia, traditional polish Christmas Eve dinner. They always leave an open place, just in case anyone stops by."

 

 

Lee smiled, biting her lip "My parents did that." She whispered her voice shaking a bit.

 

 

He frowned "I know." Remembering Amy greeting him with a water gun not so long ago on a Christmas night in the relative future.

 

 

"Except they would leave two spots open." Lee said, her voice squeaking

 

 

"Did we ever come?" He asked, beginning to cry himself. He knew who those spots at the Williams's dinner table were for.

 

 

"No" Lee said shaking her head "But that wasn’t the point." She added through watering eyes.

 

 

He reached her the table and squeezed her hand, and kissed her on the top of the forehead.  They looked at one another both trying to conceal tears. There were so many things which they didn’t know about one another, so many moments they had missed. But they had so much future to look forward too.

 

 

"Merry Christmas." Lee whispered.

 

 

The Doctor almost laughed, he was certainty going to try and force that American accent out of her. "Happy Christmas Lee."

 


	9. Chapter 9: Dashing Through The Snow

"I don't think that’s a good idea." Lee shouted as she watched the Doctor lie down completely flat on hg sleigh next to her. The wind was howling as the snowflakes swirled past them on the top of some snowy hillside of a planet whose name she had already forgotten. And yet she watched him stubbornly stretch out his long legs in front of him and place his arms firmly into the snow. He gave her a reassuring smile as he gave himself one push of momentum. Yet as he struggled to bring his arms closer to his body she could see the panic spread across his face.

 

 

Lee placed her gloved hands across her mouth watching as the Doctor stayed on his sleigh until he fell off halfway down the hill. He continued to roll down the hill, his tweed jacket becoming covered with snow until the ground evened out. She expected him to jump right up and give her a cocky smile. Yet his body remained motionless.

 

 

Panic washed over her as she peered down through the heavy snow. "Doctor." She shouted mounting her own sleigh and trying her best to steer towards yet not into him. Lee rolled off her sleigh ten feet away from him and ran through the thick snow, the powder flying as she neared him. She fell onto her knees, turning over his body her hands shaking with fear. "Doctor can you-"

 

 

She could just tell from his shaky breathing against her hands that he was doing his best to contain his own laughter. She hit him across the chest "You idiot." She chided as he opened his eyes, ecstatic that he had frightened her.

 

 

"Got you." He laughed as she removed her knitted cap and held it against his forehead.

 

 

"You’re bleeding." She said, removing the cap for a moment so he could see the small pool of blood.

 

 

He smiled even more. "It was worth it."

 

 

"That's the blood loss talking. "  Lee murmured as she helped him to his feet, and they both began to climb up the hill back towards the TARDIS. "Are you coordinated in any way?"

 

 

"Not so much with this body. But I have been quite skilled with previous regenerations." He muttered as they neared the TARDIS. Lee opened the door and dragged him in.

 

 

"Come on, you might need stitches." She added as she dragged him up towards the medical bay.

 

 

"No." He moaned like a child trying to pull away from her.

 

 

Lee tugged him even tighter. "Yes. And then we are finding a Christmas that is more your speed."


	10. Chapter 10: Run, Run As Fast As You Can

"What are we going to do with all these cookies?" Lee asked as she opened the oven once more and placed yet another tray of gingerbread men into the oven. She twisted an egg timer around before returning to the Doctor who was on sprinkle duty.

 

He shrugged his shoulders as he bent over the cookie which he was carefully placing a face on. "Just leave them here I suppose, for whoever owns this kitchen."

 

Lee took a step back in surprise, raising her brow at him suspiciously. "Are you telling me that we just broke into someone's kitchen?"

 

He looked up at her, green icing trailing all down the sleeves of his jacket. "Its fine, no one in her anyways. Were like the elves in that one story." He added with a smile.

 

"Yes but were not making shoes in the middle of the night." Lee sighed as she pulled a tray of unadorned gingerbread men closer to her. "Besides, that story had nothing to do with Christmas. Icing me." She added outstretching her hand so that he could place a piping bag of icing in it.

 

She continued to work carefully filling in the cookies. Giving them little sweaters and funny hair made of different colored icing. He watched as she continued to hand him finished cookies which he ruined with a mass of sprinkles and little candies. "You have no problem with what we’re doing?" The Doctor asked her as she jumped up to get another batch from out of the oven.

 

Lee  shrugged, "I've done worse."

 

He looked at her with narrow eyes. "What do you mean?" He asked her slowly.

 

Lee avoided his question as she carefully placed the cookie sheet in her hand back down on the counter, lifting each cookie off the rack and onto a paper towel. "I've gotten in more trouble before. I’ve done worse than breaking into someone kitchen to make cookies." Lee said gently as she bounced back next to him and holding up a cookie. "Look it’s you." She squealed at him, holding the cookie with brown haired icing and a red bow tie.

 

"Don’t change the subject Lee" He said as he took the cookie away from her and bit off the head. "What kind of trouble have you gotten into?"

 

"I figured you would know by now. I mean you always manage to bail-"

 

"I what?" He yelled at her.

 

 She winced, not scared by rather realizing her mistake. "You haven’t done any of that yet have you?" She whispered as he shook his head in response. "Sorry I forgot that were both time travelers and that thing may happen out of order.   That hasn’t been much of a concerning factor in my life yet." She chuckled as she turned back to her tray of cookies.

 

He looked at her continue to focus on her work, wondering when she had found the time to become such a good baker. "What will I do? I should know, shouldn't I?"

 

Lee nodded as she handed him another gingerbread man. "Sometimes I just get into trouble, and you'll send someone to get me out it."  She added softly as she removed the final batch of cookies from the oven.

 

"What kind of trouble?" He asked, fearing what the answer would be. He wondered if from now on he would be at both hers and River's whim. Saving either of their skins when they were faced with a monster they needed help with.

 

"Oh you know." She said casually as she turned off the oven. "I'm somewhere where I have little contacts and am in need of some outside monetary support to revive me from a confined place due to small misdemeanors."

 

He felt a small twinge against his hearts. "I bail you out of jail across all of time and space." He replied flatly.

 

"Yeah." She said with a nod.  They both laughed as the door to the kitchen swung open. A tall woman with rounded shoulders and curly hair piled on top of her head stood in the doorway, glaring at them with great confusion.

 

"What are you doing?" Her high voices trilled as she took a step into the kitchen to see the mess that they had made. Pans lying dirty in the skin, countertops drizzled with icing, sprinkles and flour dusting the floor. The Doctor and Lee looked up as they realized whose kitchen they were in.

 

"Sorry?" Lee chirped as she took a hold of the Doctor sleeve pulling him away from his decorating. He made an attempt to gather up a few of his misguided masterpieces as Lee dragged him back towards the TARDIS in the corner of the kitchen.

 

"But…" He said his hands grasping at the cookies on the counter not wanting to leave without some cookies.

 

"We are not getting chased after by Julia Child with a rolling pin." Lee stammered as she threw him into the TARDIS to look back at the chief who was becoming more aware of what was happening with each passing moment.  She turned to glance at the woman who was advancing. "Drive." Lee yelled as she hopped in side leaving the woman to stare in confusion as the box before her disappeared into this air.


	11. Chapter 11: The Nutcracker

As he walked farther and farther down the corridors towards the sounds of the music the strings grew into a loud crescendo. The Doctor followed the increasingly louder sounds of the orchestra, _Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux_ , he thought as it lead him to the doorway of a large and cavernous room which he had never seen before.

 

Inside there was a bare bones stage colored lights glittering down upon Lee as she danced with the male ballerina. Her violet dress swayed with every movement as she jumped and leapt across the stage gracefully; occasionally going to the tips of her toes but never fully on pointe.  Her hands floated up gently as they drifted from light beam to beam. The man helped her as she twirled and twirled around on the spot before being hoisted up in the air in a dramatic poise. As the music built to its final conclusion he dropped her and they both ran to opposite corners of the stage crossing with a set of leaps and bounds before coming together to strike a pose with each hit of the music.

 

"Aren’t you a bit too clumsy to be a…" Lee caught his eye as the music finished. She walked towards him, the stage and other dancer disappearing like smoke to reveal a roundrull filled room. He gasped in shock, never having seen the TARDIS do such a thing. "What have you done to my...."

 

Lee laughed as she joined him out in the corridor closing the door behind her. "I holodecked it." She said lightly as she removed her hair from the bun which it had been in. It cascaded down around her shoulders in a veil of soft curls.

 

"Holo-what?" He stammered as they both began walking along to nowhere in particular.

 

"Holodeck, like on Star Trek." She sighed at him

 

His face was still scrunched in confusion. "How do you know about Star Trek?"

 

Lee rolled her eyes, as thy turned a corner. "I was alive during the air of the original series. Besides I'm a time traveler, if I want to hop to 2015 and watch all of The Next Generation on Netflix over a weekend I can." She said throwing her hands up in the air and walking away from him quickly, but he reached out and grabbed her hand. She looked at him surprised by the gesture.

 

"I have an idea." He said his eyes lighting up as he pulled her in the opposite directed running back to the console room and punching in coordinates with fervor.

 

"Really." Lee said crossing her arms. "E.T.A. Hoffman," She moved to grab onto the console as the TARDIS lurched, she really wished that he would fly it properly sometimes. "Tchaikovsky." She added as they landed.

 

The Doctor did not respond. He simply smiled and pointed her in the direction of the door. Lee walked towards it with some fear sitting deep within her. It had been a little over a week and yet she had grown to expect the fear and excitement which came with opening the TARDIS door on somewhere new.

 

She opened the door, a warm sugary air welcoming her to the world beyond. She took a step out onto the thick blanket of snow which crunched beneath her feet. The world before was made entirely out of sweets, just as the one from the nutcracker story itself. She continued to walk towards the shimmering palace beyond. It was made with the finest spun sugar it walls translucent and dotted with all different types of candy. Lee walked towards it, noticing every tiny detail. The little licorice flowers, the gigantic candy canes which held yellow lemon drop lights. She could hear the Doctor following behind her as she approached the sugar castle, fighting the urge to lick it. Even the snow itself tasted faintly like coconut.

 

 

She passed under an amber arch made of hard caramel and into the center of the castle; where there were small woodland creatures were decorating a tiny Christmas tree. They took no notice of her as they continued to wrap the tree with strands of popcorn and cranberries. The Doctor stood at her side silently as they watched the tree before them began to grow as a flock of white birds continued to decorate it.

 

It rose higher and higher towering above them at more than ten feet and not stopping until it was nearly sixty feet tall. Red and white birds continued to swoop up into the tree decorating it while the larger animals began to settle into the large tree as if it was there home. A collection of badgers claimed the trunk and were beginning to burrow in it, while a pair of foxes slinked up into the lower branches. Soon animals were coming from all around. Large black bears, a pair of porcupines, weasels, birds of every sort and other woodland creatures finished decorating the tree before finding a home within it.

 

Lee turned to the Doctor smiling, she did not ever care what planet there were on, it was like nothing she had ever dreamed of. So many different fairytales all combined together.  "It's beautiful." She whispered as she took a step back looking at the frozen candy castle with closer detail.

 

"Well I have to go somewhere on my days off." The Doctor said as he broke off a small bit of dark chocolate window ledge and handed some to her, it was some of the best she had ever had.

 

"I didn’t know there were days off. I thought it was all chasing Daleks." She teased as she watched the now occupied tree become gently covered in the thick snowflakes.

 

He flashed a smiled as her as he took her hand and began to lead her back to the TARDIS lecturing her smugly "The people who live here build the castle ever year from all different types of candy and provide the tree. When I came here last it was gingerbread.  The animals then live in it for the winter."

 

"So, no sugar plum fairy?" Lee asked flatly.

 

"Not that I've found yet." He remarked

 

"Is there a planet out there for every fairytale?" Lee sighed with exhausting as the approached the TARDIS. The Doctor just smiled as he opened the door for her.


	12. Chapter 12: Restless Stirling

Lee sighed as they entered the TARDIS once more, he had been dragging her to every far of Christmas for nearly two weeks now, and while she was used to traveling she was used to doing it at her own terms. She dragged her exhausted body up to the console and leaned back on it, staring up at the roundel as he began to push buttons. With a lurch they entered the time vortex and he turned to look at her.

 

"Where to next? The ice caverns of Delta 9 or poinsettia fields of xfsijwv? What do you think Riley?" Something about him using her name set him off. Riley no one ever called her Riley. Not since the day she had been born, it stung. He had no right to use that name. It was his choice in the first place that it was hidden. If he wanted to use it he should have raised her.

 

"Why don't you decide?" Lee snapped

 

He looked hurt as she pushed away from him and stood with her hands on her hips. "What are you- "

 

But she didn't let him finish "You always go where you want to go, you never listen to the people around you until they get hurt. All you ever think about is yourself and how the world views you. You never think about anyone else and you never thought about me.” She screamed throwing her hands up in the air “You didn't have to leave me in New York and we both know it. You didn't have to keep River's promise because you never keep anyone else's. But it was what you wanted, what you thought was clever and you never thought about how it would affect me. "

 

Lee stormed off running down the TARDIS corridors wishing that she could feel solid ground beneath her feet, wishing she could smell earth all around her. She ran deep into the heart of the ship, choosing corridors at whimsy until she found a small door and yanked it open. It was a strange small bathroom and Lee sat down her sobs echoing off the tile.

 

It hadn't even been two weeks and already she hated the man a bit. But maybe after all these years she had built him up to be something that he was not. Twenty five years and she had discovered all on her own the sort of woman she was and he was still guessing. But he didn't care about her and all the other people who had come through these doors. They moved on and he stayed. Lee had always thought she would have been different, that he would have treated her differently that he had other companions.

 

Her hands cupped her face as she sighed in exasperation, she was exhausted. She looked in the mirror at a face which she had hardly seen in two weeks. Her hair had started got get longer and was turning redder. But her eyes, her eyes seemed to have aged a decade overnight.

 

She wished there was a backdoor in this room so she could sneak back to her own room without a chance of running into him. No sooner had she wished it than a small door appeared behind her. Lee turned to look at the black door with a brass handle. It wasn't the door to her room, but maybe it was some secret TARDIS passageway.

 

However through the door Lee found a corridor lined with small black doors each with inscribed with golden circular Gallifreyan. She waked to the closest one and squinted. She had never read the language, yet in a moment her brain had shifted. The circles and lines became cohesive letters. _Susan_. Lees' memory buzzed as she but it all together.

 

The door opened easily into a small bedroom not unlike her own. It was preserved as it would have been when the young girl lived in it half a millennium ago. Clothes were still hanging from the wardrobe magazines were still lying on the bed. Lee did now know who had saved the room exactly as it was when Susan left but someone had. The door closed behind her and Lee had her answer. Covered over the door were newspaper clippings and pictures of Susan as she grew older, the result of the Doctor's spying on her. Some of it looked recent. Lee left Susan room and walked down the corridor a bit further. Susan was his own granddaughter surely he would have kept tabs on everyone who had left him.

 

 But as she entered the rooms of Zoe Heriot, Liz Shaw, Harry Sullivan, Peri Brown, Ace McShane, Grace Holloway and Martha Jones it became clear that he had done so for everyone to walk through those doors. Some people like Sarah Jane had more information than others, others it was clear that they had died. But for every one of them Lee could see that the Doctor had placed something in the rooms which reminded him of those who once occupied them as if they would one day come back. Yet the black door indicated they would never return. It wasn't until she reached the end of the long corridor until she saw the first golden door. River’s door shone golden and locket. Lee wondered if Rivers door would ever be viewable to her. She tugged on the handle, wishing it open yet it would not budge. Lee turned to look at the black door to her right. _Amy and Rory_ , curiosity rose in her. She could open the door and glimpse at her parents future, but Lee was too scared to see what she may find.

 

But then she saw it, so deeply black it seemed charred. Yet the golden a name shone like a beacon, painted on by a steady hand. _Riley_. She walked towards the room her hand drawn to the doorknob. It was smooth and intoxicating under her hands, the door opened with no resistance as Lee held her breath and walked forward.

 

At first, she thought she had fallen into space but it proved to be simply an impressive painting. All over the walls, ceiling and floor of the cavernous room were thousands of twinkling stars. As her eyes adjusted to the light she began to make out shapes. Chests of drawers covered with pictures of Amy, Rory, River, and the Doctor. Stuffed toys from all over the universe, hanging mobiles and all the things needed to stimulate a child.

 

Most striking was the lone cradle in the middle of the room, deep blue with Gallifreyan written over the sides. Lee fell to her knees as she lay beside the cradle. This room had been for her. The second child of the TARDIS who had been ripped away from home. This room had been a clever lie they told themselves to help ease the pain.

 

Lee had never been in this room before, she knew that for certain.  But she assumed that in his mind she had grown up in the star filled menagerie. Yes the Doctor was selfish, but he was in as much pain as she was. She reached up to the mobile over the vacant cradle and broke off a star, standing up swiftly room before bounding through the corridors once more.

 

She skidded into the control room where the small tree of mismatched circuitry stood by the doors. The Doctor watched as she took the metal star in her hands and carefully twisted the wire around the top branched and balanced the star on top of the tree. She stood back and looked proudly at her work. Lee turned to look at the Doctor whose face was scrunched in an attempt to hide his emotions.

 

"It’s been five days Lee." He she croaked at her "For you it has been twenty four years but for me it is five days since you were born. I dropped you off and then did everything I could to find you when you were old enough. I almost took you from Saint Petersburg in 67, but the TARDIS refused to land. So I searched and I saw that you traveled that you built your own vortex manipulator and then in searched more. But it's been five days Lee, five days since I said goodbye."

 

Lee turned to look at him, her bottom lip quivering "So you never spied on us. On any family vacations after they left like you did everyone else?"

 

His eyes lit up like a child as he realized that in fact his beloved Ponds may not spent the rest of their lives geographically locked New York City. He placed a kiss on Lees head as he ran up to the console and began typing madly away at the screen.

 

"What on earth are you doing?" Lee laughed as she watched him bounce with excitement.

 

"Spying Lee." He said lying giddily "But we will have to be very careful." He added as they flew off somewhere new.


	13. Chapter 13: Spying

"That is not a good sound." Lee said as she held on tightly to the console as the TARDIS gave a very loud moan jerking violently back and forth.

 

"Well she knows what we are going to do." The Doctor said excitedly, stretching across the console to strongly hit a green button. Lee felt her jaw clench with hesitant anticipation. She was afraid he was about to do something disastrous.

 

"And it’s spying, something we shouldn’t be doing?" Lee feared the answer as he gave her an incredulous glance to suggest that of course they were going somewhere they should not.  "What do you need me to do?"  Fully prepared to help him pilot the TARDIS on a clearly difficult flight path.

 

He winched, grimaced and pulled at a lever. "There should be a crate of oranges in one of the kitchens, go grab it." He remarked off hand, not seeing as Lee rolled her eyes as she began to stumble  up the stairs into the depths of the TARDIS, "And throw in a couple of bottles of wine too?" He shouted after her. The Doctor continued to dance around the console as he attempted to land on the correct day and time. Lee was jostled down the corridor reaching the first kitchen she could find and grabbing what was needed before stumbling back to the console room. Yet on the third try he finally managed to land the TARDIS with a sharp metallic screech. "Come on Lee." He called out and she returned with a wooden crate filled with fruit, bread and wine.

 

"Where are we?" She said as he held open the door for her. But Lee didn't need an answer; she could smell the familiar sterile sent of her childhood just beyond the doors.

 

"London, 1942 Christmas Day." The Doctor said as they both stepped into the hospital. Young nurses in their pristine uniforms rushed past, their arms filled with blankets and bandages. The air filled with the smell of anti-bacterial chemicals and singed flesh.  The Doctor spun about; a lost look in his eyes as he watched the people come and go and play no attention to him whatsoever.

 

Lee grabbed onto the sleeve of his tweed jacket with the tips of her fingers and began steering him down the corridor. Knowing in an instant suddenly what his plan was, "He's in the burns wing, this way." She whispered soberly into his ear preparing herself mentally for what she was about to face.

 

They walked slowly down the marble corridors of what had once been a hospital for those with great wealth. Now it housed allied soldiers of all status who would likely not see the end of the year. As they approached the end of the corridor the air became stale and filled with the soft moans of those badly injured. The sight as they rounded the corner was grim.  Young men were lying in beds; their pain almost unmanageable with the medicines of the times and they injuries permanently scarring. Nurses moved to and fro, quickly changing bandages as gently as possible. Only to move on to the next patient and find them already bloodied.

 

At the end was a tall doctor wearing a white coat over his American Army uniform. Rory was bent over a patient’s bed performing an exam, fully engrossed in his work as he chatted casually to the young man who was missing half of his leg, doing everything he could to keep spirits us. He had aged, just a bit his hair lights and much shorter, the rims of a pair of square glasses sticking out of his coat pocket. At the other end of the ward the Time Lord stood still a strange flutter coming over him.

 

"He volunteered until American entered officially. I don't think he was ever a field doctor, not in this war at least?" Lee muttered softly into his ear.

 

"This war?" The Doctor croaked with surprise. Looking at her with surprise, finding it hard to imagine that Rory would choose to take part one war to begin with.

 

"He was in the field in Korea. In the Fifties" She casually said passing over the crate to him and removing a few oranges. "I think I'll stick to the shadows." She added with a dark shadow as she turned to greet some of the soldiers at the end of the ward.

 

The Doctor continued to walk towards Rory who was talking with a handful of nurses. He looked authoritative and in control. The nurses looked up at him just like they should; he was after all a man with some radical medical knowledge that was undoubtedly saving lives. "And make sure that you are keeping all wounds clean, the last thing I want to worry about is unnecessary infection that could harm a skin graft. And try to remember its Christmas" The nurses scatted with a chorus of 'Yes, Doctor Williams' and set about to work. Turning around nearly bumping into the Doctor. "I would take it those are the supplies from St. Mary's" Rory said looking up at the newcomer. He shook his head in disbelief at the sight of someone who he never thought he would see again.

 

"Merry Christmas doctor." The Time Lord said to the man before him, passing the box into the stunned mans face.

 

"Merry Christmas Doctor." Rory replied, a smile forming across his face. "Is this I should come to expect happening regularly?"

 

"No." The Doctor replied. Wanting to ask so many questions. He wanted to know everything about what they had done in their past few years since they had been left in Manhattan. He was tempted to grab Rory and throw him into the TARDIS, but he could feel Lee's threatening gaze from across the room. He was here to observe rather than act "This is something of a special occasion." He could feel his voice cracking.

 

Rory had craned his head to see who the Doctor was looking at. He squinted at Lee as if recognizing her. "Who's that?" He pointed towards Lee.

 

"A part of a very long and complicated story." The Doctor replied, moving to block his view. "Just wanted to spread some Christmas cheer. Give my love to Amy and the kids."

 

Rory's eyes widened in surprise. "Excuse me?" He sputtered look at the Doctor in shock.

 

"It’s 1942." Lee hissed as she ran to grab towards the Doctor, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the wing.

 

"Oh" The Doctor said softly. "Oh" He repeated covering his mouth and realizing his mistakes He looked between Lee and Rory unsure of what expression to land on. "Spoiled that one for you." He added as Lee forced him out of the wing and back towards the TARDIS. "Merry Christmas Rory." He shouted  as Lee shoved him back through the doors of the TARDIS her face red with embarrassment. 


	14. Chapter 14: Artificial Christmas

Sometimes nothing made sense at all. That was the conclusion Lee had come to all those years ago when she began travelling in time and space. Some days you would stumble upon a world or a civilization and nothing made sense. It was something you just had to accept, but traveling with the Doctor that soon become every day. She had asked him to show her the strangest Christmas he knew about, and he had delivered.

 

They were standing on a desert planet, sand whipping all around them as they tried to walk through the storm. Lee whined, she could just tell him to use the TARDIS, but she knew he would probably make them land in the middle on an invasion of the sand people or something. So instead they moved slowly towards a town carved into the side of a cliff.

 

It was December 24th or so he had said. Lee imagined it would have been more decorated from the outside but the town looked as if would any other day of the year. The reached closer and Lee was beginning to wonder even more. A small crevice in the side of the wall was visible and the Doctor lead the way through and into the city beyond. At first Lee saw nothing, and then she started to see everything. The corridors were decorated with strips of palm leaves which had been braided together and shining balls of metal hung from them light ornaments. It was a strange combination of decorations. It radiated some holiday, but not which one.

 

"So where are we again?" Lee asked as they made their way down the corridor

 

"The colony of St Reginald Waterstone, a small desert planet in the 42nd century." He whispered as they tiptoes down the corridor.

 

"And what makes this so special?"

 

"You'll see." He smiled as they approached a small window opening into a room off the corridor. He indicated for her to peer into it. Lee stood on her tiptoes and looked in the small hole. Inside there was a triangular tree made of circuit boards where a small collection of bronze and gold droids.

 

Lee popped down turning to face the Doctor with a look of disbelief. "The only race of droids and robots in all of time which had ever celebrated Christmas." He replied giddily

 

"Can we go in?"

 

He shook his head, "They don't take to well to humanoids on their sacred day. But we can stay to hear the carols." 

 

And so they did l, and listening as the metallic beeps and whines of attempted human songs filled the halls with ringing music as the darkness of night grew around them.


	15. Chapter 15: Oh Tannenbaum

"What happened to the rest of your family, if you don’t mind me asking?"

 

They were walking through a forest of golden pine trees which glittered in the moonlight on the fourth moon of Six-Twelve. He didn’t feel obligated to answer her question to make up for any lost time. But he felt something much different. That perhaps for the first time in a very long time, this was someone who would understand what had happened to him all those years ago.

 

He stopped in place looking down at the ground. The ground was always so unassuming on planets; it never really changed, well except for planets which had no solid ground. Meta-Mable, that had no solid ground maybe he would take her there next, if they celebrated Christmas. He shook his head, trying to get rid of all the runaway thoughts.  No Lee was asking something specific. What had happened to his family, the one he had over a thousand years ago.

 

It had been such a long time ago, and such a slow process. He remembered a long courtship on Gallifrey and a five day wedding. And then there had been children and grandchildren. He had lived a slow life as a father until he stole his TARDIS. But he never regretted leaving his family behind, it was what Time Lords did. Rassilion had been the one to make the fashion of a new family for every incarnation. But the Doctor had never liked that idea.

 

"I married a Time Lady on Gallifrey; we had several children and many grandchildren. We all lived and regenerated, but I always came back to them. Until they died in the Time War along with all the other Time Lords." The Doctor whispered. He looked at her, his face in a twisted grimace before he began walking up the hill again. 

 

She knew, she remembered what he did not. What really happened in the final days of the Time War, it had already happened twice for him, but the third time would be the charm in remembering the fact that Gallifrey never truly fell. It happened to be one of the few things that she knew and he did not, but it was perhaps the biggest secret she held. He had gotten quite far ahead; Lee rushed after him her breath crystalized in the cold night.

 

"Were they your only family?" Lee saw as a shiver over take him as he placed his hand up to his mouth to stifle a sob. "I'm sorry I thought it would be an easy question."

 

"But it is a very hard answer." The Doctor said nodding his head. He looked at her, placing his hands at his side. Lee had happened all so fast for him. One day he was grieving the loss of his Ponds, the next he was begging a Stormcage era River Song to stay with him in the TARDIS, just for a bit. It turned into a year, and at the end there was Riley in his hands. "For a long time they were the only family I ever considered. But after the war, I changed my mind. I realized that all those people I dragged along with me had become my family. It hurt so much to lose my first family, but a girl named Rose Tyler taught me how to love again. You lose Lee, you lose the people you love every day, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t love."

 

He continued walking up the hill in search of the perfect tree. They finally reached the summit and wordlessly stood on the top of the hill looking down at the glittering town bellow. He turned to look at her, she wasn’t good at masking her expressions yet and he could tell that she still had so many questions to ask about his life. It hurt him, to think about all those experiences which he tried to keep bottled within him, but he also felt as if she had a right to know about his life.

 

"Rose is in a parallel universe now, with a human clone of my tenth body. Jenny, was my daughter crated from my genetic code but she died. I've been married several times since the war; it was always the case of getting caught up in something foolish. The only one that ever mattered was River. I really do love her, even though most days I feel as if I shouldn’t. But it hurts. It hurts so much to look at her sometimes, because I ruined her life." He paused, tears beginning to stream down his face as he struggled with words. Lee took him by the hand and gave him a tight embrace.

 

"No you didn’t” She whispered into his hear. But he pulled away from her and nodded furiously.

 

"I nearly ruined her parents’ marriage before and after she was born. I was the reason Amy was kidnapped and had to give birth on that awful rock. She was stolen and raised to be an assassin. She had to meet her parents when they never knew who she was. She had to watch them be zapped back in time. And she will never remember her own daughter." He stopped a quaking hand in front of his face as the guilt came crashing down over his head. "Rory and Amy died, so many times because of me. Brian will never see them again because they are trapped in New York. I have ruined so many generations of one family."

 

Lee took his hands firmly in hers, her nails digging into the palms of his hands. He tried to pull away but she only tightened her grasp. "Look at me." She hissed "Yes, you caused havoc but you undid the damage to River Song. You gave Amy and Rory a happy and long life together. And you showed Brian the wonders of life again. But you never, ever ruined our family. Do understand me?"

 

The Doctor looked at his daughter and nodded. She was determined and headstrong and she was a Pond. Less than a month ago he had held her in his hands, a small child and promised her that it would be all right. Now she stood before him grown doing the exact same thing. Maybe she could be one more Pond whose life he enhanced.

 

“Come on.” Lee said walking towards a very small golden tree. It was certainty not the largest or the brightest in the forest, but she stood before it declaring it to be theirs. “There will always be days when you will save everyone, and days when you will save no one at all. But it’s the days in between, isn’t it Doctor?” She said, reaching up to cut the string which was suspending the cut tree above the snowy ground. She didn’t ask how it had gotten to be there in the first place, even though it was surely an exciting tale. The small tree, not even three feet tall, fell into her arms. The golden light radiated across her ruddy face making the loose strands of her light red hair sparkle.

 

He reached forward grabbing the upper half of the tree as she took the bottom. He still faced her, still feeling hopeless. “Ri-“He breathed without the courage to finish the word.

 

She wiping away at his tears with one hand smiling upon him like a mother would. He flinched, surprised by how cold her hands were. “I think we better get inside.” She said with a nod watching as he turned a stiff back to her. The Doctor was still not okay, and neither was the state of his family, but for the moment he had a sliver of hope.

 


	16. Chapter 16: All I Want for Christmas

After spending two hours decorating their small Christmas tree with whatever could be found Lee had finally broken down and confessed to the Doctor that she needed a full human length night of sleep. So he had sent her off into the depths of the TARDIS to her own room, a small and tidy room with a large bed and a side door leading directly into the wardrobe. She climbed into the billowy bed and feel asleep instantly awakening ten hours later feeling refreshed. She trudged through the large wardrobe, her eyes falling upon sparkling dresses and glittering shoes before deciding on a simple pale green dress with an asymmetrical hem. Then she watered through the corridors of the TARDIS. She could probably spend a year in there and still not have found everything imaginable. 

 

Lee wandered into the kitchen making herself a cup of mint tea. She held the novelty mug close to her body letting the steam trail up to her nostrils. Mint always reminded her of her childhood; it had been the only kind of tea she would ever drink as a child. Looking around she wondered if there was a pantry or refrigerator somewhere so she could make herself some breakfast, but all she managed to find was a bag of crisps and a box of jammy dogers.

 

Mug in her hand Lee made her way towards the console room. Bleary eyed as she was she shuffled forward stopping abruptly at the top of the stairs to make sure she really was awake. The room was covered with paper chains and twinkling lights, a mechanical train set running around the perimeter of the room. The Doctor was dancing about the room humming Christmas carols as he threw tinsel over everything in sight.

 

"Ummm."

 

He turned and smiled, his arms opening wide. "Christmas morning, we haven't done that yet."

 

 He chirped as she came down the stairs. Lee looked about, in ten hours he must have nearly bought an entire department store worth of Christmas decorations. It looked and smelled quite like the Christmas mornings she remembered.  But every once and a while she would see something rather alien; a string of phosphorus berries or babbles which were oozing green liquid.

 

"Are all those presents for me?" Lee asked as she spotted the impressive pile of wrapped gifts under the small golden tree.

 

"I didn’t know what to get you, so I sort of got-"

 

"Everything." Lee said as she walked across the room and towards the tree. She sat down in front of the tree and picked up a small red box, shaking it and sniffing it before tearing at the wrapping paper. She opened a small box to find a green crystal inside.

 

"From the meadows of La'Haran. Again didn’t know what to get you."

 

Nearly thirty gifts later, Lee found herself with several scarves, a tiny dagger, a bicycle, a sled and many other random things.  "Thank you." Lee whispered as she leaned over to place a kiss on the top of the Doctor's forehead. "I wish I had gotten you something."

 

He smiled at her bitterly, his face not hiding his emotions very well. "You're here, that’s enough." He said.

 

Lee hugged him tightly. "Well I think it is time for Christmas day tea." She added popping up and running towards the console.  "Any suggestions?"

 

"If were doing tea it better be British." The Doctor chided.

 

"England then, what era."

 

The Doctor turned to look at her wickedly. "Let’s pay visit to the Queen." He replied standing up to join her.

 

"Really?" Lee said not quite believing that Christmas tea with the Queen of England would be something they could simply crash.

 

He smiled at her, bouncing with excitement "Really." He replied with wide eyes, before pulling a lever and sending them off again.


	17. Chapter 17: Christmas with the Queen

Lee shuffled her feet down the grand stair case of the palace. Of course the Doctor knew the Queen of England in the 24th century, he seemed to know almost everyone of importance or at least make an effort to get to know them. The smell of oranges filled the air as she looked at the glittering Christmas tree. I it wasn't exactly tall but it was covered in glass icicles as a small robotic angel emitted Christmas carols. It was half way through one which Lee did not recognize. She looked out of the large window at the other side of the room, seeing the blue and ice colored empire beyond which had been established on a terra-formed planet which she had never heard off.

 

The Doctor was already down stairs, escaping away from the final course of their afternoon tea with the intention to play Santa Claus. Why, she had no ideal yet Lee crept up on the man in a red suit preparing to yell very loudly. But as she came around the tree she saw something much different than a man passing out presents.

 

The Doctor had his arms around the Queen herself pushing her into the deep green tree, their arms interlocked around on another as they kissed. The pulled apart the Doctor looking horrified as Queen Katherine the third seemed rather pleased with herself.

 

"Lee" the Doctor squeaked in a surprised voice" I didn't-I " He stammered away.

 

Lee broke out into a large smile and relief fell across the Doctor's face. "I don't care Doctor." she laughed softly.

 

I truly didn't bother her, she knew where is alliances where and she knew about his past. Besides while Lee had grown up in a sheltered age she did have quite the modern beliefs. Lee gave a small little wave to the Queen and turned to head back up the stairs.  Let them have their moment, there were still scones waiting for her upstairs.

 

She headed up the stairs humming a new song to herself, “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus _”._ She heard a shuffle of glass and frantic feet.

 

The Doctor was standing at the bottom of the grand stair case. "Very funny Lee" he shot at her lightly.

 

"If shoe fits Doc, and the shoe fits." Lee chuckled as she left them all alone. 


	18. Chapter 18: Ave Maria

Lee had chosen the location this time, Paris in the early 23rd century. They stood in the tower of Sacré-Cœurthe two hundred year old basilica watching over the city of lights as the chorus inside sung Ave Maria. Of all places the shadows of a church was not what the Doctor had expected her to choose. He wondered if she had been a church going person in her life before him. It was yet another question which he remembered to ask her at some point in time.

 

Lee wiped at her dripping nose as she stared down the sprawling city bellow.  The music coming from the midnight mass filled her with a sense of warm familiarity as she peered into the dull street. It was cold, icicles adorning the surrounding gargoyles, yet no snow fell down upon the streets of Paris. Beyond the hilltop the city of the lights glittered bellow, full of monuments and skyscrapers which seemed so small from their great height.

 

For the first time in seventeen Christmases Lee felt homesick. She longed for nothing else than to be back somewhere where she knew every rule and custom. Where there was no fear of stepping out into the blitz of a Dalek attack with each TARDIS landing. And yet as she saw the Doctor shivering next to her out of the corner of her eye, she knew she could not leave him now.

 

He was broken. Far beyond any image of him that she retained in her memories of him. He was a man who had seen sorrow, who had believed he had lost everything, and she was the last remaining sliver of hope he had. If she were to leave him now, Lee feared the Doctor himself would collapse in self-hatred. He would stop roaming the universe and saving it, he would mope about in a slow demise.

 

The Doctor in her head, the only she had imagined as a child, had been the kind to take her by the hand and explore a strange new world. She dreamed of trekking though the Amazon, of dancing in zero gravity of seeing the future of the world she had known. She had not been prepared to spend her time with a Time Lord who had lost all hope in the goodness of the universe. She did not blame him; he had spent the past year of his life living in utter pain; loosing Amy and Rory, finding comfort in River only to end up losing her. But Lee was so removed from all of that time that it had no effect on her any more.

 

Lee stepped away from the ledge moving into the shadows and closer to the spiral staircase which lead down several stories to the ground below. She turned suddenly and began to rush down the stairs, her body beginning to hurt with the impact of each descending step as her outstretched hand helped her balance around the tight spiral.  She breathed faster as she continued to move as quickly as she could down the stairs.

 

"Lee where are going?" She heard the Doctor call out as she quickened her pace, becoming dizzier with each turn. She needed to be alone with her thoughts, away from him tucked in some corner of the TARDIS which he could not find without her allowing him to do so.

 

She stumbled as she stepped into the musty basement of the church, the choir and organ music from above amplified in the small space. She stopped clutching her chest as she steadied her breathing the word only just beginning to stop spinning.

 

"Lee." She heard the Doctor call out behind her.

 

She didn't face him as she began to walk to where the TARDIS was parked away in a corner. "I changed my mind." She whispered as she placed her hand on the door, and slowly pushed it open. He followed behind her not saying anything as he watched her struggle to pull of her coat and scarf, discarding them on the glass floor before walking up the stair case and out of sight.

 

He walked to the console, gently taking off before  wondering what he was supposed to do next.


	19. Chapter 19: The Ghost of Christmas Past

He didn’t follow after her nor ask where she was going; he had more sense than that. Yet as he sat in his console room wondering what had gone wrong in Paris he saw the tip of a small black device peeking out from her coat pocket. He hopped up, striding over to her coat, expecting to pull out her vortex manipulator, but instead finding a slim computer instead.

 

One buzz of his trusty sonic screwdriver and he was flipping through the home pages on the device. Some of the application buttons he recognized, or knew enough to tap away at them without seeing anything too incriminating. He flipped through her photo book. His hearts panging as he look at all the places which he recognized and the people who he did not. It appeared that she had seen almost every corner of earth's history, and those which she had not seen were marked off in an adjoining list.

 

His fingers stopped however as blinking countdown clock flashed up on screen. Clearly a reminder of some start it read in angry letters +15 Days, 4 Hours, 17 minutes. He tapped at the warning to see what it could possibly be for.  It led him to a datebook in a calendar application marked on Sunday reading the flowing cryptic message. 12.15.74 H. Every "Sunday" in her datebook had a similar marking, 12.8.74 H, 12.1.74 LA, 12.22.74 BA. Sunday, every, Sunday… It was a thing humans did wasn't it.  The thought ran into his head like a bell. Sunday dinner a family dinner, she went home every Sunday.

 

"No concept of privacy, apparently." Lee whispered from the top of the stairs, barefooted and wrapped in silk robe.

 

"I thought…" The Doctor replied blushing and attempting to hide her phone behind his back.

 

"My spidey senses were tingling." Lee chuckled with narrowed eyes.

 

He looked up at her agape and she knew that something was wrong. "You go home every Sunday. Every seven days."

 

"It's not always every seven days." Lee began as she walked down the stars towards him. "I do my best but sometimes I get carried away. But yes, Sunday dinner, ever since I left."

 

His furrowed brow seemed to ask the question for him and yet he vocalized it anyways. "Why?"

 

It stung, him not understanding as Lee took the device from him and twisted it in her hands. She went back to them because she was worried of what would happen if she did not. Because she had seen the glimpses of the pain they went through with their first daughter, the one who was taken from them. And the little girl who ran away would do her best not to repeat history. It wasn’t to brag or to cajole them into leaving with her, it was because…

 

"I really don’t think you would understand." She whispered trying to control her voice.

 

"Riley." His chiding tone made her real name sting even more.

 

Tears were swimming in her eyes as she pulled away from him. "I know this is all hard for you. Losing then and me and everything, but for you this has been what, less than a year. But for them.. They never got to raise Melody. It over ten years of running from Daleks and being sent back in time. Even then after you left, it was the brink of World War Two, they both fought and saved people. Anthony and I have always known that we were the miracle children completing one couples great romance. That’s why even if I wanted to pick up and move to the other side of the country I never would, because it would break my parents hearts. So every Sunday at six Anthony and I ring the bell, regardless of our own lives, because that is what you do for the parents who gave you everything."

 

His face twisted into a familiar grimace. "I'm so used to losing the people I love, that I was so happy just to find you again. I never thought about the life you had in-between then and now."  
 

"You never would assume that they would have been the best parents in the world." Lee laughed whipping the tears from her eyes. "Come here."  She said kneeling down on the glass floor. "I'll show you."

 

He took her hands and interred her mind, looking as his daughters life flashed before his eyes. The infant wrapped up tight as Amy rocked her back and forth. The little propped up underneath a Christmas tree with her young brother. The birthdays, broken bikes, smashed cakes and the bent fender of her father’s car, all that life they had lived. And rhe Christmases: a chorus of Silent Night at midnight mass, the promise of a white Christmas, the bittersweet pang of River's appearance at the front door. The friends, the jobs they all flashed before him. The life he missed, but the life he gave back to Amy and Rory.

 

He felt her hands pull away, as she smiled at him and pretending of wipe off her hands. "There" She said with the type of finally you use for a five year olds skinned knee. "The ghost of Christmases past, taken care off. Now can I go to bed without you rifling through my things?"

 

He nodded, still on the floor watching as she climbed the stairs once more. Every Sunday, she was a better daughter than he could ever have hoped for.


	20. Chapter 20: River, the song

Four hours after she had claimed to gone to bed, he could hear the soft sounds of her feet moving somewhere within the TARDIS. Yet the Doctor stayed within the console room, resisting the urge to track her movements on the scanner as he could hear her banging around in one of the kitchens. He knew that Lee would manage finding her way around the ship, and yet he wanted to trail after her with slightly mocking comments.

 

He had after all, expected her to be fierier.  And yet the twenty four year old Gallifreyan before him was more _sturm und drang._ He could tell, in the moments he caught the darkness that fell across her face that she was just as capable of brooding as she was. He had expected her to be more like River or Amy, ready to fight, hardly afraid of anything. While she was capable of that level of intimidation, she wore it more like a façade than anything else. She had somehow found a piano to play, as he now heard the hymn like arrangement of “The Holly and the Ivy” ring loudly in his ears.

 

He sprung up the stairs the soles of his boots barely touching each step, as he whistled along to the tune. He sauntered down corridors, lost in his own thoughts as twirled about listening as she changed to progressively more minor Christmas carols. As he finally found the pine door with Scandinavian motifs, she began playing a diminished chorus of Jingle Bells resolving into a more minor progression.

 

" _It's coming near Christmas, they're cuttin’ down trees…"_ Lee began to sing in a small voice that contained none of the characteristic impurities of Joni Mitchell's original version.

 

The Doctor opened the door to find a room filled with pianos which he had not until that moment knew existed.  Lee caught his eyes, nodding as he entered the room full and continued to sing, " _Oh I wish I had a river, I could skate away on."_

 

He scooted onto the piano bench with her, watching as her long fingers danced across the keys. She continued playing the song, softly singing the lyrics until she finished. Her hands rested on the final chord as she muttered "I felt like singing sad Christmas songs. There isn't many though." She looked at him sheepishly, the glimmer of a tear in her eyes.

 

"It is quite fitting, lyrically." He laughed cautiously running a hand against her hair. From looks alone, she didn’t seem much like him. Her eyes were round and brown, her hair barely held a curl and changed, it had been a light red when they had meet not it was a golden auburn.  Well, maybe one day he would look like her. But that nose, he had seen that bumpy pointed nose many times before.  "But you can't really be that sad can you?"

 

She shook her head ever so slightly. "No. But there are things that were easier to ignore twenty Christmases ago. Like running with you. I know I'm supposed to, but traveling was easier when I was on my own. I feel like we should be trying to change timelines and causing paradoxes rather than having Christmas dinner over and over again. And River.  I see you looking at me. You want me to be her, and I'm not. It’s killing you to know that you will have this time with me and she never can. So I'm playing sad Christmas music."

 

"I know you're not her." He said wiping away a tear and taking a heaving breath. "I want you to be Lee. Whoever that is. I'm 1,200 years old and I still deciding who I am. And, No River will never have these days. I would change that if I could, but I can't." He turned away from her, taking another breath to pull himself together before he slapped on a smile.  He took her hand and pulled her up. " I know just where to go to next. And we will need to be dressed quite ridiculously."

 

"You mean this isn't appropriate?" Lee said gesturing to the robe she was wearing.

 

"Noooo." He dragged with a wicked smile. "Scared?"

 

"Terrified" Le e replied with a hesitant giggle as he began to jog out of the room.

 

"To the wardrobe then."


	21. Chapter 21: Amid the Cold of Winter

Lee stepped out from the TARDIS and looked out into the crowd. The multi-colored string lights glittered over head as the mist from warm mist from the breaths of those around her hung gently in the air.  She shivered as she stepped onto into the surprisingly warm weather wearing only a pair of black leggings and a garish Christmas sweater adorned with kittens in Santa hats wrapping presents. She looked back at the Doctor who was wearing a sweater with a lit up tree underneath his tweed jacket. "Is this the planet of the idiots?" Lee hissed, running her hands up and down her arms nervously.

 

The Doctor scolded her as he took off his own jacket and placed it around her mistakenly assuming that she was cold, yet the mismatched look made her fit in even more with the crowd. "It’s earth can’t you tell?"

 

"No." Lee replied as she looked about at the young people standing in the square also all wearing horrible Christmas sweaters. "Is there some sort of cult of the ugly sweater that comes to power?"

   
"Ugly Christmas sweater parties, it becomes something that University kids do in the early 21st century. I'm surprised that you never came across one with all those universities you attended." He said as they walked through the crowds of young people all laughing.

 

They continued to push through the crowds until they reached a table serving hot chocolate and cookies. Lee poured them each a paper cup of the drink which quickly turned lukewarm in the weather. "I mostly just skipped ahead and went to classes." She said as they walked towards the edge of the crowd gathering in front of a stage. A band made up of shaggy haired musicians was playing rock adaptations of Christmas carols.

 

"I know." The Doctor took a bite of a sugar cookie. "There's no other way you would have been able to go through medical school and study engineering without skipping the weekends."

 

As the band began to play louder Lee shouted into his ear. "How did you know that?"

 

"I used the TARDIS to look up your education records. Masters in Engineering from UC Berkley in 2038, Medical School from Stanford in 2019." He shouted back at her, looking at her proudly.

 

Lee shook her head. "Of course you know that." She muttered, "I did them both in six months for me at least, barely slept at all." She laughed.

 

"It’s 2018."  The Doctor whispered into her ear, as the crowd began to sing Jingle Bells Loudly.

 

Lee looked at him in surprise, "What," She shouted.

 

"This is Stanford 2018. You’re bound to know someone. Go have part of your University experience."

 

"Really?" Lee asked looking around at the crowd, it had been a large school and she had never been very social,  but she assumed there must be someone in the vicinity who would recognize her at least.

 

The Doctor was already walking away from her. "I'll see you at the end of the night.”


	22. Chapter 22: An Unexpected Visit

"Where are we?" Lee whispered as they stepped out of the TARDIS and into a stately room filled with velvet furniture and smelling strongly of pine.

 

"Can’t you tell?" The Doctor whispered as he tiptoed across the room pulling out his sonic screw driver out from his coat pocket and scanning the room as he twirled about.

 

"Even you don’t know where we are." Lee hissed as she drew her arms in closer to her. She felt rather obvious standing in what was obviously the house of someone quite wealthy in a pair of leggings and a horrible Christmas sweater.    

 

The Doctor raised an arm and tossed the sonic over to her. She caught it with ease yet looked at him with a frown. "Well tell me then, where are we."

 

Lee laughed at him, yet her fingers curled around the device with an expertise and she began to scan the room.  She flicked the tongs out as she read the small display. "Earth, 1975." She whispered, moving closer to the small evergreen tree which was covered in painted glass ornaments. "England…" She paused moving to the other side of the Christmas tree so that the Doctor was hidden from view.

 

He stood in the middle of the room, twiddling his fingers  out of sheer boredom. He continued to fidget getting more and more anxious as she continued scanning the room in concealed silence "Lee." He hissed after waiting no more than two whole minutes.

 

Lee popped her head around the other side of the Christmas tree her eyes wide in the dim light. She scurried over to him, taking him by the arm. "Do you know where we are?" She grunted as she began to take him back towards the TARDIS.

 

"Well you said England." He began, but Lee covered his mouth with her own hand. He continued to try and talk and she dragged him backwards. "'ee" He said with a muffed voice. " 'ee 'opp."

 

"We are leaving now." Lee whispered into his ear. "Oh my god you bit me." Lee shrieked as she pulled her hand away, and gaped at the bit mark forming on her hand.

 

The Doctor had taken the sonic screwdriver away from her and was pointing it back towards the Christmas tree. "What is it, a Dalek?  Why are we running away Lee?"

 

But his questions were answered by the form of an older woman in her dressing gown shaking her fist furiously at  him. "DOCTOR." She shouted at him as she caught sight of him.

 

"You're Majesty!" The Doctor exclaimed rather excitedly as he saw the Queen Elizabeth herself.

 

"Yes, the Queen." Lee said as she pulled the Doctor in closer towards her and looked him dead in the eye. "Who has obviously heard the stories." She pushed him into the side of the TARDIS. "Sorry you’re Majesty we're leaving now. You can call off the guards."

 

"An American?" The Queen exclaimed.

 

Lee's mouth opened in indignantly. "Oi I was raised by a Brit and a Scott, you can blame the American education system for my accent. I was at the coronation." Lee stammered her mouth agape.

 

"You choose to go back to the Queen's Coronation?" The Doctor muttered

 

"No." Lee spat at him. "I didn't--- I was six. My parents took us to spend the summer in England."

 

"What?" The Doctor muttered. "Why would they do that?"

 

"Oh I don’t know maybe they had some magical foresight of knowing about historical events before they happened." Lee shouted at him sarcastically.  "What?" She added as the Doctor began to point wildly behind her. She turned to see the guards closing in on them. "We'll get in."

 

The Doctor pulled open the TARDIS door, waiting for Lee to run in behind him before he shut it. She ran up to the console her slipperier feet sliding on the glass floor as she stretched to push the emergency take off button.  As the TARDIS wheezed Lee fell back against the railing laughing.  "Oh my God.  I can't… I just can't. I'm still wearing this ridiculous sweater." She said looking down at her chest. "I'm going to go change. You got three more. Make them good."


	23. Chapter 23: Last Christmas

Three more Christmases. That was what he had promised her. Yet as Lee returned to the console room after shedding her  ridiculous sweater and clinging leggings for a more practical pair of canvas pants and a twill military jacket she had an inkling that he would try and rope her into a hundred more. There was something very comforting about being the TARDIS. It reminded her of a warm mug of coffee by the fire in December. In the moment she felt an extra fondness of the constricting warmth, yet in the back of her mind she was longing for summertime.

 

"Where did you choose?" Lee said as she stood next to the Doctor and looked at the blank monitor screen.

 

She stifled a laugh at the scandalized express which fell over the Time Lord's face. "There are worlds, galaxies, an infinities amount of Christmases await us Lee. How could I pick just one? So you get to pick” He concluded at her rolling eyes.

 

It was of course quite a question. She paused worrying that she would either pick something dreadfully sentimental or life threatening. She settled on both, "The last Christmas on earth."

 

Silence hung between then as the Doctor stared at her. "Are you sure, I mean wouldn't you rather…"

 

"Not before the planet blows up you idiot" He sighed dramatically as she punched him gently in the arm. "The humans leave eventually don't they? Settle on different planets and call them earth as well? But the one I grew up on, the last Christmas on that planet."

 

"Are you sure?" And when she nodded in return, he pulled a level and sent them flying.

 

As soon as the TARDIS screeched to a halt Lee ran to the door, and turned back to look at him. Her auburn hair shined in the warm console room. In that moment as she prepared to step into a nearly apocalyptic world, it seemed as if she had been there forever in the TARDIS with him.

 

Lee opened the door a warm breeze awakening her as she looked at the low hanging sun in the cosmic orange sky. She stepped out onto the dry clay soil beyond her and looked down at the bare scaffolding of London that was left. The city had been revenged, but its peoples had every right to do so. Buildings had been stripped of nearly every brick, every scrap of metal, that were of no use on a planet that had no more natural resources.

 

She began walking down the dirt hill of what had once been Hampstead Heath with tears in her eyes. The world which she had once knows was crumbing beneath her feet. Suddenly she turned back towards the TARDIS, wanting to get out of the heat to run away and go somewhere else. But when she looked behind her the Blue Box had disappeared.

 

"No Doctor don’t you dare." Lee shouted angrily a deep rage filling up inside of her like nothing she had ever experienced.

 

A tweed arm appeared out of thin air thirty yards behind her, followed by his flop of hair. "I'm just putting the shields up. I don’t want her to get stolen." He snapped back at her before running to catch up with her. "It’s London" he bluntly stated.

 

"I can see that." Lee whispered as she continued walking down the hill. "What year is it?"

 

"2412." A shiver came over Lee. The most she had ever gone forward was a little over one hundred years after her own time. But that was much closer than the end of world than she even knew.  "It was natural resources in the end. They were used up, and the human race turned to mining other planets, then Terraforming them for the workers, than it was just easier to pack up and move to a whole new planet."

 

"Everyone is just going to leave, willing?"

 

"They don’t really have a choice." He replied pointing to the large Zeppelin like ships hanging over the city down by the river. "There cutting off the artificial atmosphere on January 1st."

 

"Have you been here before?" Lee asked as they walked towards what was once a rather lavish high street.

 

"Not this close to the end, no." He muttered as they continued their way closer into town. She could see it in the shadows of his face. London a city which he had always flocked to, now they walked through the withered streets of a city that once shone. It was seeing the broken and fragile corpse of somewhere beloved. Lee moved next to him, taking his arm in hers as they continued down the empty streets.

 

"That sign is in English three times." Lee said as they rounded a corner of a lane and finally saw other people in the distance all walking bleakly in the street.

 

"Translation matrix, it’s in English, Mandarin and Hindi, the three most prevalent cultures in the end. Humans too stubborn to adopt one language so they resort to everyone having to learn at least three."

 

"Where are all the people?" Lee whispered as they passed by empty shops and homes. Not even animals seemed to be stirring in the bareness of the original earth. The Doctor just smiled as they continued to walk down the empty streets.

 

After nearly half an hour they rounded a corner into the heart of the city. A large tent was set up in the middle of the road, covered with official governmental warnings. "Is it a quarantine?" Lee asked

 

"No." The Doctor said pushing aside the curtain and allowing her to step through first.

 

Inside the tent, it had seemed that every single bit of greenery from earth had been crammed into a three block radius. The trees, some evergreen others just plain green had all been covered with anything that could resemble a Christmas ornament.  One tree was particularly dashing, covered in origami candy wrappers, while another glittered with electrical wires. The ground had been covered in a chemical compound which resembled a pure white snow fall. And throughout the tent were tables filled with humans of all different races eating the last turkey dinner on earth.

 

The air was filled with laughter and song, and Lee turned to face the Doctor to see that he was grinning from ear to ear and holding two paper hats in his hands. "The Human race, optimists till the end. You didn’t think that they would go out with a funeral did you?" He shoved the paper hat on her head, and placed on his own smiling smugly. Lee was tempted to take it off of him, but she felt a small hand take hold of hers and she looked down to see a small child tugging at her arm.

 

"You can sit with me." The girl said brightly.

 

Lee squatted down so that she could look the pig tailed girl in the eyes. Her dark curly hair was a wild mane all around her face yet she was wearing a red velvet dress which was remarkable clean. "What's your name?"

 

"Kaydree" The little girl said with a smile, her large round eyes unblinking. "What’s yours?"

 

"I'm Lee, and this is my friend the Doctor." She replied pointing up to the Doctor while smiling at the child.

 

The girl let out a small laugh as she continued to stare piercingly at her, "Lee's a funny name for a girl."

 

Lee giggled. "Well I think Kaydree is a funny name too."

 

The little girl laughed and began to drag her through the artificial snow to a small table where twelve people were already sitting and eating. But the crowded table all stood to make room as the new comers came. They chatted gleefully about the Christmases of their past, of the far off planets and space ships which they would soon be calling their homes.

 

Lee looked up and down the table, clearly wanting to speak, but unable to bring herself to do so. She had grown up in the era of the expansion of earth, when it was dreaming of new possibilities and places; this was a planet which had been ravaged by her generation’s carelessness.

 

“Aren’t you going to miss your earth, your home?” Lee blurted out. The adults looked at her incredulously, it was a question they had no interest in answering, because in their lives the planet of earth had never been one with much to offer.

 

It was a little child, Kaydree who looked up at her answering the questions. “It’s not earths anymore. It was. But now it’s not.” She said breathlessly.

 

“But all the places here, the monuments, Stonehenge, the Grand Canyon, Rome, don’t you want to see them?” She wanted to know how such a small child could simply want to leave the place she called home. Shouldn’t she be crying over the loss of the lands in which she had grown up in?

 

Kaydree blinked her large eyes, not understanding Lee’s sentiment. “I wanna see stars. I wanna see the flying cars in the core, I wanna see a blue sky.” She replied with a large smile, not seeing the sadness in Lee’s eyes.

 

Lee opened her mouth agape, wishing to ask something far more philosophical of the little girl, but it was the Doctor next to her who muttered in response. “The human race as moved on.” He looked down at the table, running the tips of his finger across the rim of an untouched wine glass.

 

“Why?” Lee asked bitterly.

 

“Because its-” He paused, smiling to himself before finishing his sentence. “the circle of life.” 

 

Next to him Lee shifted in her place, downing her wine in one swift sip. “But all the people who are buried here, all the historic places and wonders, what going to happen to them?” She could feel the warmth on her face.

 

“I should have known you weren’t ready.” He looked at her, his eyes piercing. “To see the wasteland earth becomes.”

 

She stared at him incredulously, her mouth open agape in utter shock, “How can you…”

 

“This won’t be the first planet which the human race will leave behind in their history; there will be many more in the days to come.  What’s important is not the places but rather the ideas that a race carry with them, the traditions which are never forgotten.

 

“Christmas.” Lee whispered, feeling so foolish all the sudden.

 

He nodded, “It will always be an earth tradition, passed onto many more cultures and generations than was ever expected.”

 

She smiled bitterly, feeling bad that she had ever gotten mad at him. “It’s not about the presents or the planet you’re on is it?” She asked in a low voice.

 

He saw the broken expression on her face, and leaned over to kiss the top of her head. After twenty three Christmases she was finally beginning to understand, that sometimes all the mattered were the memories you made with the person you were with.

 

 The rest of the evening went smoothly, tucking in the varied and enormous feast before watching as the last people of earth held hands and sung Christmas carols underneath the burned sky. And when dawn rose on a new day they walked back to their ships, waving goodbye to the planet which there race had originated on, and off towards the new frontier they would explore and conquer.

 

As Lee and the Doctor made the long walk back up to the TARDIS they looked around at the ruins of London. In time, all things came to pass. All empires and civilizations fell; they both knew that truth of life. Even cities which had stood for thousands of years had to come to an end sometime. Earth, the planet crumbled around them. But earth, the idea of the titular home of the human race only seemed to grow stronger in the air. There would be so many more earths in the days to come, but perhaps the last Christmas on the original earth was the most important one of all to two aliens who had chosen to call the planet their own.


	24. Chapter 24: A Visit From Saints Above

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the TARDIS

Not a rotor was stirring, nor making such a hiss;

The stockings were hung by the console with care,

In hopes that we would soon again visit Geoff's solitaire;

K9 was nestled all snug in his bed,

While visions of circuit boards dances in his head,

And Lee in her 'kerchief, and I a fez cap,

Had just settled down for a short winter's nap —

When out in space there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the console room I ran in a flash,

Tore open the doors, and looked out in a dash.

The starlight upon the planet covered in snow,

Gave the luster of mid-day to the continents below;

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh, and an eight Dalek cavalier,

With a lack of a driver it was lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it was not St. Nick.

More rapid than angels the coursers they came,

They whistled, and shouted, and began to acclaim:

"Now attack, now attack, now attack and destroy,

"On fire, on bullets, on bombs and deploy;

"To the top of the planet! To the top of the wall!

"Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate them all!"

As dry leaves before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, it crumbled bone dry;

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,

With the sleigh void of toys — and St. Nicholas too:

And then in a twinkling, I saw on the roof

The gliding and stomping of each heavy hoof.

As I landed my TARDIS, and Lee woke with a frown,

Around the houses, Daleks swarmed all around:

The creatures were set on making Christmas caput,

As they left each house with only ashes and soot;

A trail of toys and presents all taken back,

In each house remained crumpled tape and tack:

Their eye stocks— how they twirled! Their voices so merry,

But I looked at Lee, and we thought quite contrary;

We ran into the night our faces aglow,

To restore the planets Christmas and re-whiten the snow;

The handle of my screwdriver held tight in my teeth,

And the smoke of rage round Lee's head like a wreath.

We took our aim, not at their spotted belly

But at their eye stalks which turned right to jelly:

From the zaps of our sonics, gone where the wrong elf,

And I laughed when I realized I'd done it myself;

The winning spirit of Christmas had spread,

And the planet had nothing left to dread.

We spoke not a word, but went straight to work,

And refilled all the houses; then turned with a jerk,

And laying a finger alongside my nose

And giving a nod, to the TARDIS we rose.

Sprung open with a snap, my ship gave a whistle,

And took us away, like the down of a thistle:

But I heard Lee exclaim, as we went out of sight —

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.


	25. Chapter 25: I'll be home for Christmas

Her eyes seized open as she looked up at the beige ceiling, realizing suddenly that the music was not coming from her dream. The sight of unfamiliar surrounding filled her heart with panic for a moment as she considered if her entire existence had been a dream.  Then she remembered where she was. Christmas morning, Anthony's house 1974, Boston, and Rhapsody in Blue was being played on the piano bellow.

 

Amelia stood up swiftly, pulling on her dressing gown as she made an attempt to not wake her husband. It was still dark outside as she cautiously made her way out of the guest bedroom and down the foreign stairs. As she crept down the stairs like a child she could already see the Christmas tree had been lit by someone unknown. She stopped on the stairs, peering around the outline of the fir tree to see the backs of two individuals sitting at the upright piano, each of them playing with deep concentration.

 

The young woman, sitting on the right hand side of the key board seemed to be more focused. Her slender fingers dogged in and out of view as they danced across the keyboard, her long auburn hair swaying as she moved from one end of the keys to another. The man on her left hand side was doing his best to keep up with her flawless playing.

 

Her foot fell onto the next step as she tried to get a better glance at the two musicians. It looked like… she shook the idea from her head. The last time she had seen Lily was a week ago with short red hair. And that man, the style of hair was all wrong and he was wearing something which actually looked period appropriate. She took another step approaching the bottom of the stairs; her heart was leaping like it had not done so in two decades.

 

They were nearly half way through the piece, in one of the slower and more expressive sections. Amy hid behind the Christmas tree as she watched the woman's right hand gently trill the keys. The man, he had stopped playing and she hadn’t. She compensated flawlessly and was now playing the whole arrangement on her own.  A small glass ornament clinked against another as Amy leaned into the tree, and the man turned.

 

That chin, she would recognize it anywhere. The Doctor saw her in the corner of his eye, and winked as Lee reached another faster section. For a second her heart stopped, and then she broke into a huge smile. It was better than any dream she ever had. There sitting on her son's piano bench was her own Santa Claus, the man she had worshiped all those years. He seemed as if he had hardly ever aged since the last time she saw him over three decades ago. But was even better was the look on his face. There was no sadness lurking in his eyes, no regret on the temples of his brows, just happiness.

 

Amy took a small step out from behind the Christmas tree slowly walking towards the Doctor. She reached out, her hand grabbing on to his as tears began to cloud her vision. Over thirty years ago she had let go of his hand forever and never looked back. She had lived a life worth living, full of pain and joy and boring dull days. She had never dreamed that one day he would come back at least not to see her again. The Time Lord was clutching on to her hand with white knuckles, their eyes meeting after such a long time.

 

"Amy." He whispered. It had been so long since she had heard him call her name; her face broke into a smile as he too began to cry tears of joy. "My Amelia." He repeated as he swept her into a tight embrace, never wanting to let go of her. He let go of her, holding her out at an arm’s length and looking at the aged woman before him. Her once vibrant hair had now turned grey, the lines around her eyes had only grown more prominent, yet she smiled at him with the exuberance of a much younger woman.

 

Amy turned to Lee, who was still sitting at the piano bench, watching with a small smile at a moment which did not belong to her. "I was hoping he had finally found you." She muttered wiping away at her tears and trying to compose herself, she had so many questions to ask. "Are you alright?"

 

Lee nodded. "I'm fine Mom." she replied in a soft voice. "We've only run into the Daleks once." She added with a smile.

 

Amy laughed looking at the Doctor. "You haven't changed a bit have you? Still finding trouble..." She paused running her hands through her hair. "This is a dream isn't it? Doctor you can’t possibly be here, not after all this time?"

 

"It's really me Amy." He said shifting from foot to foot. "Can I stay?"

 

Amy blinked twice.  Now there was something that she never expected the Doctor to say on Christmas morning. "Of course." She breathed. "Rory, Anthony. Lee's here." She called out, still smiling as the Doctor as she managed to sit down on the sofa looking at him in wonder. She had so many questions, about what they had both been up to, but she couldn't seem to find the words to ask them. Instead Amy watched as Lee showed the Doctor around her sons’ living room, showing him pictures and funny little mementos of her childhood.

 

Soon Rory and Anthony were both in the living room as well, Rory hugging the Doctor fondly as Anthony timidly introduced himself to the man he had grown up hearing stories about. Rory sat down next to his wife leaning onto her shoulder as they watched the Doctor interact with their children. It was strange how after all these years they held no desire to run away with the man once again, even though he was sure to offer. Yet somehow seeing him smiling, genuinely happy seemed to make up for all the chaos they had lived through. And to have Lee back home safely made them happy as well.

 

"Are we going to open presents?" Lee chimed as she looked around the crowded living room.

 

"I'm afraid we don't have any for you Doctor." Amy added.

 

"That's alright." The Doctor said pointing to a small pile of eccentrically wrapped gifts underneath the tree. "We brought some of you I hope you don't mind."  Amy laughed, somewhat fearful of what could possibly be inside of those gifts.

 

The family settled in beneath the Christmas tree, with a small fire roaring beside them. Amy and Rory siting on the couch, Anthony and Lee on the floor while the Doctor passed out gifts to their respective recipient. It was normal, an adjective which Amy and Rory had never used positively about their time with the Doctor. They laughed and talking about nothing important at all.

 

"Our own personal Santa Claus." Rory muttered as he unwrapped a gift from the Doctor, a collection of medical supplies from the 22nd century.

 

"No." Lee said as she crumped up a ball of wrapping paper and tossed it into a trash can "He looks nothing like the man." She smiled, a flash of the Time Lord spreading across her face.

 

"She got to see the real Santa Clause and we never did." Amy incredulously moaned.

 

The Doctor looked at her with a twinkle in his eyes. "Lee is much harder to impress than you and Rory ever were. She already been to most of the interesting bits of earths past."

 

"You call her Lee as well I see." Amy said giving a raised eye to her daughter.

 

"We'll she's rather stubborn." The Doctor muttered as picked up a gift for Anthony.  "Thank you for that."

 

Rory scoffed. "Don't blame us, you’re just a stubborn as she can be as well."

 

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Thank you Rory for pointing out my flaws in front of Anthony."

 

"Believe me Doctor; I know everything there is to know about you." The Doctor glared at him for a minute, withholding his gift as he glared suspiciously at Anthony. But he quickly laughed and handed the gift to him with a smile.

 

The morning passed by quickly as the pile of unwrapping of presents grew next to each adult. The light snow continued to fall outside, yet it sadly melted as it touched the ground. Sometime around noon, Amy gathered up the energy to put both Lee and Anthony to work on Christmas dinner, while Rory and the Doctor stayed in the living room the radio softly playing in the background.

 

"But another log on the fire." Rory muttered as the Doctor stood up to sit down next to him on the couch. He did as he was told bending down to fiddle with the fire for longer than needed before sitting down next to one of the few men in the world who was older than him.

 

The Doctor didn't look at him but Rory could sense the cloud of darkness falling over his youthful face. "Thank you." He whispered as he stared at the springing flames of the fire. "I couldn't have raised her any better myself."

 

"Of course you couldn't."  Rory replied honestly, he knew better than to be anything less than blunt. "There is of course only so much which she could have learned in her time on earth. There is quite a lot left for you to teach her."

 

"I know." The Doctor was silent, thinking to himself.

 

All around him was the life of people who had moved on. Of his companions who had left him to find a life of their own. And yet he hadn't left him. Lee, River, they were all echoes of Amy and Rory. Reminders of the times they had, and they terrible things they had faced. While it had been fun to have twenty five Christmases he knew that with Lee the fun couldn't last forever. There were whole civilizations that were not doubt curious about who and what she was. At any moment she would be in just as much danger as he was, and Lee did not have the experience which he did in running from all the terrible things in the universe. He couldn't abandon her anymore; he couldn't make her stay still in one time period. She had every right to travel with him in the TARDIS and that frightened him. He was responsible for her, and yet he knew she had a strong will of her own.

 

"Rory it’s been quite a long time since I was anyone's father."

 

Rory turned to look at the Doctor, still surprised to see such a wizened expression on the young face. He seemed gripped in terror at the prospect of spending time with his daughter. "Were you not in these past twenty-five days, being a father to Lee?"

 

The Doctor sighed, "I suppose that I was."

 

Rory shifted in his seat, "She doesn't need you to hold her hand Doctor. Lee is quite like you, ready to jump at any moment. But she's been trapped on earth her whole life while she was dreaming of stars. Give her the opportunity to explore the universe, to try and find a home. Let her tell you how much involvement she wants from you."

 

He frowned, a flash of sadness across his face "Do you think she's happy?" He whispered.

 

"She’s restless." Rory replied gently. He looked as the Doctor nodded slowly, still not meeting Rory's eyes. "And you know Doctor, deep down, you know that she..."

 

The Doctor looked at him, his eyes filling with fire and rage. Of all the things in the world, today was the last of days in which he wanted those events to be brought up. "Rory" He scaled his father-in-law, "Rory please, don't-"

 

"Then change it. Please." Rory meet his eyes and stared at him darkly. The Doctor stood, his hands shaking with rage, he wanted to leave, yet he knew he couldn't. He paced around the room, shaking his head in fury before heading into the kitchen with great purpose to clear his head.

 

Amy smiled at him welcomingly as he looked around the small kitchen filled with the scent of the seasons as he felt the rage lift from his body. He watched as Lee mashed away at a pot of potatoes by hand, laughing as she told Anthony about one of their adventures. It seemed to make it that much harder to be angry at Christmas, or to be preoccupied with any previous knowledge.

 

"What do you need me to do?" He said, rubbing his hands together as he looked around the kitchen. The three Williams all looked at each other apprehensively "Oh, come on I can do something." He added pulling out his sonic screwdriver and tossing it from hand to hand.

 

"Not with that thing." Amy replied, hitting him gently in the arm as she stirred away at the gravy. "Go set the table." She indicated at a stack of plate lying at the edge of the counter.

 

After much confusion about the placement of stemware, and several helping adjustments from Anthony the family finally sat down to an early Christmas dinner. With one place setting left open, Amy, Rory, Anthony, Lee and the Doctor all sat down for Christmas dinner. They passed around plates of food digging wordlessly into mashed potatoes and green bean casserole as wine was poured into large glasses.

 

"What are you doing in Boston anyways?" The Doctor asked as he grabbed a piece of turkey and poked at it suspiciously.

 

"I moved her over the summer." Anthony said from across the table. "We decided to have Christmas here since I couldn't leave because of work."

 

"Where do you-" The Doctor began

 

"Are you going to develop a Baah-ston accent now?" Lee cut in, taking a large sip of wine before taking a bit of mashed potatoes covered with cranberry sauce.

 

"No." Anthony glared at her. He turned back to the previous conversation trying to hold a civilized conversation. "I'm currently helping with some research for NASA at MIT."

 

The Doctor looked up, genuinely surprised. "You work for NASA?"

 

Anthony smiled, "Currently, yes."

 

"Were you in Florida in 69?" The Doctor asked sheepishly.

 

"No but I heard about that." Anthony smiled as he passed the rolls. "I like studying the stars Doctor, the physics of how we can escape the gravitational bounds of earth. But I have no wishes too...  well let’s just say I don't mind waiting to see if we manage to find life on Mars."

 

Lee turned to look at her brother. “Is that meant to be an attack on me?"

 

He shook his head. "No, Lee... I didn't mean it like that."

 

"I mean should I be penalized for finding a way to create more powerful technology than you could ever imagine, or probably see in your lifetime?"

 

Anthony let out a small humorous laugh. "Lee you only managed to create that thing on your wrist with stolen soviet circuitry and the knowledge of time lord physics in your head." He teased her.

 

She leaned forward her bottom jaw sticking out in anger. "Yeah well at least I won't be getting over excited by the idea of fiber optic cables in twenty years."

 

"All right you two." Amy shouted from the head of the table. "It's Christmas, no more fighting, no more techno-babble."

 

Lee sat back in her chair sulking. "You're probably hoping that by being here the Sox will win the series in your lifetime."

 

"I don't even like the Red Sox." Anthony spat at her.

 

"The Red Sox will win the world series in his lifetime." Rory stated.

 

Both Lee and Anthony turned to look at their father with their mouths open. "Dad." Anthony croaked.

 

"In like 2004." Rory replied.

 

"Still." Lee muttered as she took a bit of a dinner roll. "Spoilers."

 

The Doctor winced a bit, surprised at how she could say such a phrase and looked so un-phased by it. He turned to look at his old companions. He hadn’t prepared to see them as old as they were, and yet something seemed to right by their aged states. There had been very few people in his life whom he had ever seen age, Sarah Jane, the Brigadier a few others. A year or two ago the idea of seeing Amy and Rory in the later part of their lives would have terrified him, now it just seemed to fall into place perfectly.

 

“And what have you to been up to?”

 

Amy opened her mouth in astonishment. “You don’t know.” She balked at him. “I thought you would have spied on us a lot more.” The Doctor shook his head and a proud look fell upon her face. “I was a nurse in the war, didn’t really have a choice. Then I got back to writing, journalism for a while then fiction, story books.”

 

It seemed to fit her, Amelia Pond, the girl from a fairy tale now telling ones of her own. She certainly had seen enough alien worlds to spur her imagination for the rest of her life.  He turned to look at Rory, whom he already knew a bit about. “Why a Doctor and not a nurse?”

 

Rory laughed, the answer was simple he had just never really explained it to anyone before. It was of course the convention of the time that women were nurses and men were doctors. While he could have chosen to be a trailblazer for male nurses, “It allowed me to help more people. My medical knowledge was so far ahead. People who listed to a doctor who knew about defibrillation but not a nurse.”

 

“Did you stay in the Army?”

 

Rory nodded his head. “I never really saw a reason to leave. They were the men whose inquired could use the most help and I was the one who had it.”

 

Now it was the Doctor’s turn to smile proudly as he looked at the lives of the family, his family who he had managed to help the most. Most of the time the people who traveled with him just left, and while he would see them from time to time again, he never crashed their Christmas dinners to see how well adjusted they have become. It broke his hearts to have Amy and Rory taken from him, but seeing them live a full and small adventure filled like repaired a bit of the damage.

 

* * *

 

 

Later that evening as the wind howled outside they once again sat in the living room, looking at the Christmas tree, not talking but rather each lost in their own thoughts. It had in a way, been the least eventful of all their Christmases together. But somehow the Doctor though that it had also been the best. Family at Christmas, it was so cliché yet it did work so well.

 

He looked at Lee, sitting on the sofa reading a novel.  She both did and did not belong here.  It terrified him to know what when he stood up to leave they would be heading towards a new and unexplored tomorrow. There were no more Christmases left to make up. Birthday's possibly, but she would most likely not stand for that. He didn't have the courage to possibly ask her what she wanted to do next.

 

Amy sat down next to him, waking him out of his reverie as she looked at the clock. "It's nearing midnight Cinderella, isn't it time you left?" She muttered. He looked at her, trying to picture the face of the little girl whose garden he had crashed into, but all he could see was the old woman before him.

 

"Only if you want me to." He whispered gently so that only she could hear.

 

Amy smiled, "I never expected you to even stay this long, If you stay any longer you've run into River.”

 

"River?" He frowned at her. Amy smiled bitterly, it had never occurred to him that River would actually come and visit her parents from time to time. In fact it was something she did quite increasingly in the latter years on her own life.

 

"She always comes on boxing day.” Amy explained.  “When the kids were little our neighbor would always take them ice skating, so she would never see Lee."

 

He took her hand and squeezed it tightly, never wanting to let go of his friend again. "Oh, Amy." There was so much he wanted to say, so many places he still wanted to take her. But so much time which could not be undone. "Please come with me."

 

"No." Amy said plainly. "It's time you found someone else Doctor. Someone who isn't River or Lee. Some other soul whose life you can complicate, and make wonderful.  Find some other family you can become a part of.  But never forget us, Doctor because you made our lives wonderful." The clock stuck midnight, and even though the tears were coming back to her, she smiled at him one last time. "Like a fairy tale. Goodbye Doctor." She reached over and hugged him one last time.

 

He could feel a small warm hand taking hold of his, and Lee was pulling him up it was time to go.  "I doubt this will be the last time Doctor." Anthony said shaking his hand.

 

Rory was on his feet, hugging the Doctor tightly. "I never got to say goodbye the first-time." He wheezed.

 

"Rory." The Doctor choked on his own tears.

 

"You watch over my girls, or I'll  dust off that sword." The Doctor laughed as he looked around the small living room one last time, trying to memories it all. The brown carpet, the wooden tables and green furniture. It was so garishly accurate of the era, and yet it seemed perfect. The tree, muliti colored lights with a star on top. Yet it was all fading from view as Lee dragged him towards the front door, he could barely remember what they had ate for dinner.

 

"I'll see you on New Year’s." Lee called out as she opened the door and they stepped into the foggy night. The TARDIS was parked just around the corner of the street; it’s light atop just visible in the dense mist. Lee unlocked the door and pulled them both inside.

 

"So where to now?" The Doctor called out in a hollow echo as Lee closed the door of the TARDIS behind her with a large clang. He walked up to the center console in a daze and flipped at the switches absent mindedly.

 

Lee frowned, looking at if suddenly she too had a thousand year past behind her. “Don’t ask me how I know, just trust me.” She whispered darkly.

 

He glared at her, “What are you talking-“

 

“Clara.” Lee said loudly her voice ringing against the metallic walls. “You need to find to Clara and travel with her.”

 

His mouth hung open. “But I’m going to travel with you, Lee...” He sputtered dumfounded. Lee made the long walk from the doors up to him, her head downcast as she approached him standing far too close.

 

“You should change,” She whispered tragically. “Keep the bow tie, but change out of this old thing.” She said tugging at the sleeve of his tweed jacket. She looked around at the console room; it would be the last time she ever saw it like this. The bright yellow walls, the spotless glass floor, she missed it already.

 

“Don’t change the subject.” He muttered as he saw the tears forming in the corner of her eyes.

 

"I want to finish school." She looked up at him, so afraid that she was going to disappoint him. "I mean I made all the effort to get in Oberlin, and I only have a year left. I know I shouldn't leave you. Not now at least, you’re bound to go sulking in Sumerian. But I miss my own life… and you need to find Clara." She said in all seriousness through her tears.

 

He smiled, laughing at her as if this was all a joke. “Who’s Clara?” It was a question Lee had expected, she had the residual memory of his previous incarnation meeting her. That was how she knew who Clara was, because she was smart and clever and saw things where he did not. But this one had met her as well, well never really face to face, but the voice was the same.

 

Lee shook her head, “I’ll give you a hint. Run you clever boy, and remember.” She replied, watching as his eyes widened in surprise.

 

“But… she…”

 

Lee threw her hands up, “I don’t how to explain it either. I just know that she’s going to be the next person who travels with you… and me. Find her, and then come get me.”

 

He was only somewhat ready to say goodbye to her, but the time had come. "You need to be careful." He said with a firm tone.

 

"I'm not going to go searching for an earlier version of you, just to mess up time lines. I do know how to travel in time."

 

"And space as well." The Doctor said with a raised brow, as he pointed to the bangle on her wrist "I know you worked on that thing first time you set foot on the TARDIS, you can go across the universe now. There are going to be things after you. You're a time lord, and there aren't many of them left anymore." He hugged her tightly, not ready to give her up yet. "I'm very serious; you have the potential to cross a very large amount of time streams." He said pulling away and beginning to type in some coordinates as the TARDIS sprung to life around them.

 

"I've managed to avoid causing any paradoxes or holes in the universe, which is more than I can say for you." Lee paused, knowing the heart break that she was going to cause him when she walked out of the room.

 

Lee looked around the TARDIS once more, making mentally sure she had everything she needed. It was only going to be goodbye for a little while, but she knew the next time she met him he would be different in spirit. The TARDIS landed with a screech and she knew this was her stop.

 

"I'll see you around Doc." Lee said as she made her way to the door, wanting to make their goodbye quick for both of their sakes. "You know how to find me." She stepped outside into the very practice room from which she had left.

 

Lee sat down at the piano, looking at the stack of music which had been untouched for only few minutes. She smiled as she watched the TARDIS wheeze out of sight, it was a sound which she had come to recall fondly in the past twenty five Christmases. She looked at the large stack of music and her clarinet before her. She sighed as she opened the case and placed the Brahms before her, her life was about to get much more interesting.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has given kudos and written comments, it means the world to me.
> 
> There will most certainly be more of Lee’s adventures in the coming year, both with and without the Doctor.
> 
> As always I don’t own Doctor Who or its characters.
> 
> Hope you have a great Holiday season, and a good new year. 
> 
> -Elizabeth


End file.
